national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2013] >> up next, president obama discusses a new education initiative at the white house science fair. after that, the 2013 teacher of the year. first senator speeches by signature heitkamp. >> it to cars pull someone has a stranger and the other as dick cheney, you get in the car with the stranger. >> if you took all the money republicans spent tried to stop

health-care weekend have health care. here we are at the hilton. >> is hard to be funny with the president of the united states sitting here. somehow, the joe biden manages to do in it. >> our coverage starts at the red carpet are rivals like today at 6:15 eastern on c-span. >>, monday, president obama posted the third white house science fair. obamamonday, president posted a third white house science fair. he announced a new program focusing on those four areas. this is 50 minutes.

-- 15 minutes. [applause] >> thank you, everybody. have a seat. welcome to the white house science fair, one of my favorite events through the course of the year, and i just had a chance to see some of the outstanding exhibits that have been put forward by some of these american -- amazing young people, and let me just start by saying in my official capacity as president, this stuff is really cool. [laughter] these to say thank you to incredible young people for explaining to me what the heck is going on.

everyone of you is enormously talented, obviously, but there is also a community of people that help them succeed, and teachers who believe in them and challenge them to do even more. all of them have loving parents and mentors and families. i not only want to give the young people a round of applause, but all the parents, teachers, principals and everyone who was involved, give yourselves a round of applause. [applause] of course, primarily, we are here to celebrate these young scientists and visionaries who dream and create and innovate, who have asked the question, why not? why not try something better?

something that is faster, something that helps more people? that drive, the refusal to give up, that focus on the future is part of what makes america great, and all of you are disciplined in this long line of inventors and creators that made this the most dynamic economy and the most dynamic country on earth. that is one of the things i have been focused on as president -- how do we create an all hands on deck approach to science, technology, engineering and math, and i am happy to have key members of my science team here today including my chief science advisor john holden, who is here. francis collins, the tall guy, right there. we have the acting director of the national science foundation and we have real life astronaut and nasa administrator charles bolden.

we need to make this a priority, to train an army of new teachers in this subject area, and to make sure that all of us as a country are lifting of these subjects for the they deserve. one of the things i am concerned about is that as a culture we are great consumers of technology, but we are not always properly respecting the people who are in the laboratories, behind the scenes, creating the stuff that we take for granted. we have to give the millions of americans who were in science

and technology -- worked in science and technology, not only the spec they deserve -- the respect they deserve, but a new way to engage young people so i am going to announce -- [applause] that is our community service director. she is a little bit biased, but i like that in her. she has that get up and go. [laughter] a new program that will connect scientists and engineers to students that might follow in their footsteps and other are stepping up. some of america's biggest tech companies are encouraging workers to mentor young students. media organizations are working with athletes like outstanding

wide receiver victor cruz from the new york giants to how important science and math is to sports. since he is here, did you see the exhibit about the cooling shoulder pads? they had an exhibit. it was very impressive. you had the gatorade coming in. you did not have to reach for it. it would automatically transmit itself into your helmet. [laughter] it could work. we have nonprofits that are helping to organize 1000 summer learning events this year. they all realize how important science, technology, engineering and math are to the future. so, we are doing this together. after all, the science fair projects of today could become the products and businesses of tomorrow. three students, kevin jackson, alec jackson and caleb robinson, the folks that i talked about and keep in mind, they are in third, fourth grade, and they have this idea for cool heads so that victor does not get

overheated when he is on the field. think about that, if you are inventing stuff in the third- grade, what are you going to do when you get to college? we just had the university of alabama national championship football team here last week and i know they are interested in this idea because it gets really hot down in alabama. a lot of the students are working on the next-generation of medical research. so, listen to this story -- when pancreatic cancer took the life of jack's close family friend, it inspired him to look ways to look for protections. he requested research space, asking 200 times, being turned down 200 times, and finally he

got the research facilities he needed with the help of johns hopkins, and developed a pancreatic cancer test that is faster, and cheaper, which is not bad for a guy who is barely old enough to drive. where is jack? jack, stand up, because that is spectacular. [applause] that is great work. i do not know what you are doing when you were juniors in high school. that is what jack is doing. [laughter] better than i was doing, i promise you. today was not just the third white house science fair, it is also the 4030 birthday, so i -- 43 earth day, so i want to give a special shout out to those who focused on harnessing energy and creating more energy efficiency. we have a bill like caleb --

people like caleb. stand up, so we can see you. [applause] caleb build a wind turbine that is small and fast enough to be installed in your front yard or on your roof. we have john and bridget who, together with their classmates, designed and inexpensive press that could recycle garbage like banana peels into briquettes as an alternative for would for the ash -- using 144. -- wood for fuel. they are in eighth grade. it could reduce carbon emissions, save d4 station, and smoke -- d4 station and reduce

smoke inhalation. we have sarah, who is breeding new types of algae. [applause] sarah is breeding new types of algae. she stores this in a lab in her bedroom. so, sarah, you have very supportive parents. [laughter] one reporter asked her exactly what is growing under her bed that is going to save the planet and her answer was algae that can produce more oil for cheaper biofuels. by the way, john and bridget, i did not have them stand up. i saw them.

may be they are still cleaning their hands off. there they are. [applause] thank you. so, i have to say, young people like these, everyone of them have these kinds of incredible innovations. some of them are already fully operational. some of them are getting fine- tuned. young people like these have did make you hopeful about the future of our country -- have to make you hopeful about the future of our country and it is a reminder for us, the adults, do we have to do our parts, everything we can to make sure we are giving these young people opportunities to pursue their studies and discover new ways of doing things. we have to make sure we are leaving behind a world that is safer, cleaner and healthier than the one we found. that is our obligation and that is why over the last four years we have made historic investments in clean energy future that we need and today we import less oil than we had fuel years things to new

economy standards. by the middle of next decade, cars will go twice as far on a gallon of gas that we have doubled the energy generated by wind and solar, and creating tens of thousands of good american jobs in the process. we are emitting less carbon pollution in the environment than we have in the past 20 years, we understand we have to do better and it is why we have to invest in more biofuels, fuel-efficient vehicles, more solar power, wind power, and more people going back to work building cars, homes and businesses that are more energy efficient. that is why i propose new job creating investments in science and innovation, and all of these young people, as young as they are, they will all go to college, and a lot of them will want to pursue their research and their dreams.

if there is not a research grant pipeline in place, many of them will not have the resources to invent and discover the things that will make us healthier and more energy efficient and improve the quality of our lives. so, this is not the time to gut investments to keep our businesses -- that keep our businesses on the cutting edge, keep the economy humming and improve the quality of lives. this is a time to reach the research and development that we have not seen since the height of the space race. [applause] that is what we should be doing. that is what we should be focusing on. [applause] and, that should not be a partisan idea.

america has always been about his coverage, invention, engineering, science -- discovery, invention, engineering, science -- that is who we are. it is in our dna. that is how this country became the greatest economic power in the history of the world. that is how we were able to provide so many contributions to people around the world with scientific, medical and technological discoveries. that is what these young people here are all about. it extraordinary young people like all of you can use your talents to shape the future for our families, communities and our countries, we have a responsibility to make sure that we -- they have the tools to do it. i want to make sure to say thank you to all of the science fair winners, not only for the good work you are doing, but for the example you are setting for your peers and your adults.

we could not be prouder of you and i want you to keep up your incredible work. part of the reason we're doing this here -- we celebrate our great football players like victor, and outstanding musicians, and that is all appropriate, but we have to make sure that we are also celebrating, every single day, in our schools, classrooms and in our country, the outstanding contributions of scientists, engineers, mathematicians are providing to us every single day. youant you to know that have a whole country behind you as you pursue your dreams and your success is going to be our success as well, all right? so, way to go. thank you. appreciate it, everybody. thank you very much. [applause] >> ladies and gentlemen, please remain in your seats until the president and student exhibitors exit the room. [applause]

>> give them another round of applause applause. [applause]

thank you, everybody. >> the following day he honored the teacher of the year during a ceremony at the white house. a high-school science teacher from washington state is the winner. they are chosen from among state teachers of the year from among a national committee. this is 15 minutes. please have a seat. i am thrilled to welcome our ba state and national teachers of the year to the white house this afternoon. i'vee who know me know just got a soft spot for

teachers, partly -- my sister is a teacher, my mom was a teacher for a while. and if there's one thing we can't say enough to our nation's educators, it is "thank you." totoday, we've got a chance do that -- to show our extraordinary appreciation for the difference that they make in the lives of our children and the lives of our nation. now, before we get started, i've got to recognize another outstanding educator, our secretary of education, arne duncan who is as passionate anybody that i know. and i'd like to acknowledge and applaud the three outstanding principals of the year who are joining us -- because we know that unless we've got

outstanding leadership in our schools, it's veryfor evenand so please give them a big round of applause as well. now, these educators behind me come from all over the country. they represent cities and towns of every shape and size, all types of schools. but the one thing that binds them together is that they are absolutely devoted to nurturing the next generation. they're role models who show our kids how to work hard to their potential. passion. imaginations. and this year's national teacher is from zillah, washington. did i say that right, jeff? >> charbonneau, so yes. >> charbonneau -- >> charbonneau from zillah.

>> from zillah. that's why he's a good teacher. as jeff put it, a teacher's "greatest accomplishments are revealed each time a student unlimited potential" here can remember a moment like that, when a teacher helped them find that spark that allowed them to get to where they are the time we didn't see in ourselves. twelve years ago, when jeff decided to return to his hometown to teach, zillah high school had no engineering curriculum. the science curriculum was lagging. kids had to go off campus for technology classes, and the computer resources were, frankly, pretty poor. but jeff was determined to turn that around. he wanted to convince kids that something like quantum mechanics

wasn't something to run away from, but something to dive into and he said, "it's my job to convince them that they are smart enough, that they can do anything." and now, with jeff's leadership at his high school, science enrollment is way up. kids are graduating at college- level science -- with college- level science credits. the school expects to have to hire more teachers now to meet the demand. this kind of transformation is exactly why i've proposed math and science teachers across the decade.over the next and excellent teachers like outstanding educators who serve as leaders and mentors for colleagues in these

particular subject areas. but it's not just classroom jeff. he reinvigorated the school's yearbook. he started an outdoors club. he brought his passion to the drama program. he's even helping out other schools. andotics competitions gaining valuable engineering experience, all in the name of that's what school is for him, that's what he wants it to be for his students -- in their classrooms, but also in their community. and basically, there's nothing important for us to acknowledge jeff's wife and children and mom and dad and brother -- all presumably have to put up with him constantly doing all this stuff.

and we appreciate them for the what's true for jeff is true for every educator standing me.nd they understand that their job like reading or chemistry. they're not just filling blackboards with numbers and diagrams. in classrooms across america, they're teaching things like character and compassion and resilience and imagination. they're filling young minds with virtues and values, and teaching our kids how to cooperate and overcome obstacles. so today, we honor the dedicated professionals that help guide that critical development. any parent knows it's hard to drop your son off or your daughter off at school that first time. in the instant the car door

slams or the school bus door shuts, there is a little flutter that goes on. i like quoting somebody who said that being a parent is like having your heart outside your body wandering around. but these teachers, they're the ones that we trust with our kids. they're people who love our kids. a few months ago, we saw the true depths of a teacher's commitment when six educators the children they embraced as their own. lockedas the teacher who her first-grade students in a you," because, in her words, "i wanted that to be the last thing they heard, and not gunfire." the special-education teacher in her arms, trying to protect him ultimatelyil that

took them both. in those moments, those brave teachers showed the world what they do is more than justthey embrace them and theyand we know that the men andthese folks did not go into teaching for money. they certainly didn't go into it because of the light hours and the easy work. they walk into the classroom every single day because they love doing what they do, because they're passionate about helping our children realize the best versions of themselves so that our country can become the best version of itself. and i just want to say to all of them, i hope that in some small measure this award keeps them going. because i never want our teachers to feel discouraged at a time of budget cuts, at a time when all too often problems in them to do so much, and

sometimes they get so little in return. i want you guys to know that the country appreciates you. the kids appreciate you. the parents appreciate you. a country, but most importantly, it's critical to those kids themselves. i cannot think of something more child who maybe came in inspired them. and, by the way, i want to mention -- i often talk about stem and math and science -- i really do think it's critically important. we've fallen behind on a lot of those subjects. but i don't want to neglect our english teachers and our arts teachers, our music teachers, our history teachers, our social science teachers because, yes, we want folks inventing things scientists and probably fewer lawyers.

i can say that as a lawyer. but part of what you're also teaching young people is qualities like compassion, and being able to put yourself in somebody else's shoes. and that's what makes our society worth living in as well. so the bottom line is, thank you. of the least that the rest us can do is to give all of these folks the respect that they've earned, the gratitude owe them. teaching is a profession and it should be treated like one. and that means we're going to have to recruit and prepare and reward our next generation of great educators more effectively. secretary duncan has been working with folks around the country on a new blueprint for teaching in the 21st century,

outstanding teachers and educators and principals so that practices are out there. educators like jeff and everyone up here today, they represent the very best of america -- committed professionals who give themselves fully to the growth and development of our kids. and with them at the front of the classroom and leading our schools, i am absolutely confident that our children are tests of our time and the tests of the future. so we're grateful to all of you. thanks for helping our kids dream big, hope deeply and realize a brighter future. so with that, i would now like to present jeff with his apple. bite want to -- but don't into it and invite him to say a few words. give jeff a big round of applause. [applause] behalfmr. president, on

i teachers assembled here, would like to thank you for a our commitment to continuing to improve the lives of march showed a jump. when i start out the day, i say a simple phrase. "welcome back to another day in paradise." do you see it? there is something else here that is far more powerful and beautiful. look at my fellow teachers of the year. it see what i see. see the sparkle of pride in their eyes and that comes not from winning awards but knowing that they represent 3.2 million and thating teachers we are a small sample of the greatness of education. do you see the wrinkles? yes. [laughter]

>> maybe on jeff. you gu ys look great. us have moreome of than others. they have borne witness to the hours of joy that come in the art to discovery with our students. the you see the strength of their shoulders that have lifted students up from the lows of conditions to the highest of prosperity. at my fellow teachers here today, i see a force that exemplifies the kind of education i want my own children to have. i see the knowledge to provide rigorous content that allows them to believe youthe leaders. what i see in these children is

a reflection of the state of education. we are a nation of succeeding schools. it is time this is shared and that students have some of the best opportunities to succeed. .heir teachers are high quality the government is committed for real and meaningful reform measures. we are a nation of schools that are working to adapt to a changing world. i will tell you what. i would not have it any other way. thank you. >> there you go. [applause] great work. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2013]

>> we are not hiding folks behind u s, are we? thank you so much, everybody. kep up the good work. ♪ ♪

>> this is the site of the white house correspondents dinner. it brings together politicians, media, and hollywood celebrities. he can see the coverage like that 6:15 p.m. -- you can see the cover july that 6:15 p.m. in before that we will also show you some highlights from previous white house

correspondent dinners at 3:00 p.m. eastern here on c-span. on tuesday, she gave her maiden speech on the senate floor. she talked about some of the issues important to her and the state of north dakota including energy. to this is 15 minutes. -- of my colleagues who came here today to watchy perform my first, or offer my first speech on the floor of the united states senate. 's a great group, and it's a bipartisan group, and i think that our new class is exactly that. a group of great people who are very bipartisan and very willing to work to solve america's proble. and i'm proud to be part of this freshman class of the united states senate. you know, people here all thi that the know each other and that's absolutely true. but sometimes it's a good

reminder to tell people about where y come from. and i want to just spend a little bit of time talking about where i come from, because i think it speaks a lot to what i believe and how i will vote and who i am. i blew up in a small town in north dakota -- i grew up in a small town in north dakota. you all might think that's 90,000 people. no, it's 90 people. my family wasne-tenth the population of that town. when i was born my mother had four ks and the oldest was two and there were no twins. by the time my parents were done having children, there were seven children in nine years. my dad was a seasonal construction worker and my mom was a school cook and a janitor. think about that. seasonal construction worker a a school cook and a janitor. it's interesting because my mom was someone who never let anyone be bullied.

the worst thing you could do in my mother's eyes was pick on somebody who couldn't defend themselves. and we knew that's what our role would be in our entire life. that's a value we carry with us, me and my six siblings. from my dad, we learned about community and about building community. my dad built the smallest v.f.w. chapter in the country. came back froworld war ii, knew they needed a place to gather, to provide support for the veterans and support for each other, and that needed to be in his community. he built a ballpark. he built, y know, the fire hall; made sure it was chief of the volunteer fire department for years and years, head of the v.f.w., someone who really believed in community and believed when mrs. poster needed her sidewalk shoveled so she couldo to church, that was our job. it wasn't somebody else's job. you didn't look around to see who was going to come.

you picked up the shovel and you went down. and so, i think what do you learn from the place you grew up in? in manitor, north dakota, like communities across this country, people gather at coffee tables maybe 7:00 or 10:30 in the morning, maybe a little bit in the afternoon, and they talk about the problems o america. they talk abouthe problems of their community. and there is all ideologies at that table. there is democrats and republicans, as we say in man manador, hraougt -- lutherans and catholic. they gather together and solve all the problems if we would only listen here in washington, d.c.. even though they have horrible fights, they get together and they solve problems in their community. they figure out how to put up the christmas lights on main street. they figure out how to fix the

roof on the church, how to get a school bond passed so they can expand classrooms. all across america people work together. and that's the spirit. that's what i learned growing up in a small town in north dakota, that we can accomplish things if we keep our eye on the goals, if we understand and appreciate that we all come from different places and that we all need to work together and that sometimes we are not going to agree, but we need to move forward. we need to work together to move this country forward. and so i want to just take a ment and hopefully i won't get too emotional, but i want just to think about this, that we live in a country an amazing country where the daughter of a school cook and janitor and a seasonal construction worker can stand on the floor of the united states senate and address this body.

it's an amazing country, and we can never forget that value. but i never thought i'd be here. what do i mean by that? i never thought thai would come to the united states senate. you know why? because i had senator conrad and i had senator dgan, and these are two giants who came to this body, spoke their mind, represented their state. and i knew they'd always represent me. always. and then something happened. they got tired, frustrated, and they movedn with their life, and ty asked me to join this fight, the fight for north dakota and the fight for our values. they asked me to step into their shoes. and i'm extraordinari proud to be here, extraornarily proud to represent agriculture. what do i mean by that? you know, we've got frustration in farm country. 16 million jobs in agriculture, it is the bright spot on our economy. it is adding to reducing our trade deficit.

it is everything in my state. it is everything in my sta. and you know what? we have small farmers, small family farmers who have to spend $1 million before th can even take a crop out of the ground. that's an average farmer in my state. that's how much it costs to engage in farming. and when we don't have a farm bill that provides some certainty, some security for them, we not only hurt them and hurt american agriculture, we risk our secure food supply. so i came here to speak for north dakota farmers. i came here to speak for an energy policy. you know, it's an amazing place here. you hear everybody say we believe in all of the above. and in north dakota we do all of the above. we not only are rich in natural gas and oil and coal, but we also have geothermal. we do ethanol, we do biofuels. we're one of the leading producers in this country of wind energy.

we get it. but policies in this body and in this city need to be established that provide certainty to our energy producers. i'm here to address the concerns that we may not have if we don't have policies that address issues of redundancy and reliability in energy, we will fall further and further behind. and these are new technologies. they are great innovations that are comingown the pike. we need to address those. we need to move forward. i came here to talk about reasonable fiscal solutions. we just heard a debate, a good debate about the effects of sequestration. we know we have challenges. on both sides of the aisle there is a sense of purpose to change the trajectory of this debt. we are spending -- we are borrowing 40 cents of every doar we spend. we have a national debt that is almost equal to our gross

domestic product. we have interest payments that are the third-highest payment that we make here, and that's at a time of record-low interest rates. this is unsustainable, and it needs to be addressed but i think it needs to be addressed responsibly. and so, like many of you, i have my own personal passions, and they involve senior citizens, making sure that we provide them with a secure future. but also a secure futur for future senio senior citizens. veterans care deeply about the condition of veterans benefits and what we're goi to do to reward and thank -- truly thank the 1 nuclear th% in this counts up. i have a great concern for ople living in indian country. what are we going to do to make sure that he enjoy a future in our state in you take every problem o america and multiplypy it by three and that's the problems in indian country.

i care about head start. i believe a head start investment is a smart investment. soou might wonder with all of these concerns and issues why i'm standing today to talk about marketplace fairness? you're going to hear a lot about a case. it is called quill v. north dakota. what you don't kno is probably that cakes the whole caption is "quill v. north dakota xk heidi heitkamp." i heard the despair of main street businesses. i had a woman who came to me -- she had a little wallpaper shop in her town. at the time u had t buy the wallpaper books from the companies. so it was an investment in presenting this product. and people would come to he had and they would open up the book and she'd help them do a little interior design. she'd work through the fabrics

and work through all of this and then they walk out and she never saw them begin. and she knew what i knew what they did as they went home, took hathat lot number she had give inthem and they ordered it on internet. but she wanted to know from me when i was tax commissioner how i could justify a 5% disadvantage that she was having. she wanted to know what i could do to level the playing field so that she at least had a chance. she at least could compete. well, iistened, and it wasn't just that woman who ran the wallpaper business. it was the furniture stores, the main street office supply stores and we initiatived a lawsuit called quill. for those of you who think this is going to unduly burden small business, i want to think about this. in my state, why we sued quill is they were the third-highest retailer of office products. in my entireta third

highest. it is pretty remarkable, but yet they were enjoying this advantag of not having to collect sales tax. you know, so we took the case to the supreme court, and some would say, that didn't turn out very well for you. and i'll tell you kind of some basic information about the court case because at the time there was a sense that there was not due process jurisdiction if you didn't have physical contacts in your state. now, we all know -- a lot of us are lawyers in this body -- that the lonarm statutes at the time have med on. the questionas what in fact would be the contact and could we in tax jurisdiction and in sales tax collection get the court to agree that due process was not disturbed by an extension of regulation and responsibility to internet sales and, at the time, catalog sellers. the court agreed with that piece

but when they were challenged with t argument that did north dakota's imposition affect interstate commerce and they heard a lot of arguments that you're going to hear today -- a lot of jurisdictions, it is not very stream lined -- they heard a lost those arguments and they sa, you know what we aren't comfortable. aboubut he know what this belon? it belongs in the united states senate, it belongs in the house of representatives, it belongs to congress because congress has the obstacles of regulating regg interstate commerce the and so here we're. her we a almost 20 years later -- over 20 years later since the court case was decided, still debating this iue. and this issue has grown tremendously because of the explosion of internet sales. remote sellers are getting bigger and our main street businesses continue to suffer. continue to struggle. you're going to hear a lot today about how this bill

discriminates. you're going to hear a lot about how it's not fair. you're going to hear about how it affects small business and every time you hear that act, i want you just, members of this body, to think, just for a moment that you are that one woman with the wallpaper books, or you're the small drugstore trying to sell candles to supplementhe prescription drug business that you have. you're that small business, and what you see is you see that you have burdens of collecting this sales tax and you're building your community. your bulletin -- you take out a little ad in your school newspaper to help the school newspaper, or maybe you put an ad on the score board down at eigh school and maybe you when they come around and ask for a little money for the fire hall, you chip in. and you're building community and you're there and employing people therend you're wondering w this government can authorizend approve

discrimition against you, why you have to fight so hard. and you're going to hear a lot today about small businesses that operate on t margin, right? you know, retail has got a small margin. exactly. that's exactly the point. because that small margin, it's just as small for that main street business but they've got a 5% disadvantage. and so today and tomorrow we're going to hear a lot about this bill, and i know feelings are running fairly high for people who oppose it. but when you hear discrimination and you hear that this is not the role of this body to take this on, understand this: it's exactly the role of this body. it is exactly the obligation that we have to level the playing field, to make things fair, to respond to the needs of our community, and that's why we're fighting so hard an working so hard on this bill. and i think we're going to get it done. and let's just think for a moment. we've taken a couple of votes. they've been pretty good,

lop-sided votes for us. if we fail in moving this bill after it has such tremendous support, how do we do the tough stuff? how do we do the deficit reduction that we need to do? how do we do the tough stuff that comes here? let's do this. let's level the playing field. let's make this responsive to those main street businesses who every day struggle and are simply asking for justice. x a day later, as senator king delivered his first speech. he spoke about the mission of congress. this is about 25 minutes.

most speeches that we hear in this hall are on the topic of the day. taxation comment on control, fairness of the marketplace. i think that in order to understand the issues we are debating, the issues that are coming forward, we have to have some context. we have to look back to the history of this country. a favorite quote from mark

twain is open " history does not alwa repeat itself but they usually rhymes." in this case i believe it is true. why do we have governments at all? why do we have the laws and all of this panoply of the constitution? it is about human nature. ist of human nature conflict. often it is conflict reserved by -- show by violence. life is nasty, brutish, and short. bill moyers spoke at one of my son's college graduations. i was at the graduation because i wanted to see what $100,000 look like all at one place. profoundvery

observation. he talked about the propensity disputes by resolve violence. he used a term that has stayed with the baby and i think it is very profound. -- with me. i think is a profound. civilization is an unnatural act. it takes work to maintain civilization from one generation to the next. around us gives us evidence of these. open the paper and look at north boston,he middle east, or two little boys in a sandbox with one truck. it is the basic necessity that brings forth any governments throughout history.

the constitution says in order to ensure domestic tranquillity and provide for the common then the paradox is once you create a government you are handing over power to other people. can becomeent's self abusive. that is true throughout human history. who will guard the guardians of? ? governments are bought the power we give up in order for governments to serve us. human nature raises its head. corrupts.

absolute power corrupts absolutely. that is true of all people and in all places. beforewo questions encompasses all you need to know about political science very the our constitution is the best answer ever provided to these questions. whatramers knew exactly they were doing. e-ave to apologize for my mails senator friends. madison only talked in terms of men. what he said. if men were angels, no government would be necessary. if the angels were to govern none would be necessary.

in framing the government which greatbe registered, the difficulty lies in this. you must first enabled the government to control the government and oblige it to control itself. that is what the constitution is all about. is thet analogy benjamatic. dices.es and power is separated. that was the theory.

this was a shock shall -- a structural solution to the government of using its own people. were not satisfied. of rights is nothing more than a sphere of us that even if the government follows all of these arcane rules, it violates free speech is is no good. to beartes the right arms it is not valid. if it violates the right to be secure, it is off limits. this protect us from an abuse of government. has never been resolved in this society.

arguments we're having l are all manifestations of this age-old debate we keep having. the arguments always seem to be the same. we always hear about the necessity of national solutions to national problems. .e hear allegations of tyranny there are hints of secession. the record -- rhetoric is the same.

this is the 10th time this same issue has arisen in american history. was aerican revolution revolt against concentrated power far away. the drafting of the constitution are rose out of the weaknesses of the articles of confederation. this was a week. we cannot concentrate power and have. this gave rise to the constitutional convention. this was a the wonderful terms federalist

and anti-federalist described the decision in the country which we are fighting over to this day. dicknk of harry reid and durbin at hamilton and adams, and mcconnell and corn in our the jefferson and madison. he became president, and somewhere found in because edition the unknown right to buy louisiana. we are glad that he did. the alien and sedition acts of 1800, which was the patriot act of the day come up past by president john adams to get what they thought were seditious activities in the country. vicerson, when he was president, secretly wrote a resolution for the kentucky legislature saying that the alien and sedition acts were no and void in kentucky and were a violation of the constitutional principles. , the tarifff 1828

of abominations, protected northern manufacturers. low and behold, south carolina wanted to nullify it. to do so.2 voted the notification crisis of 1832 was only averted by the election of andrew jackson and a compromise tariff that was passed in 1834. that is five times already. this is an interesting one. the fugitive slave law in 1850 were passed by the central government. they said that if a slave escaped into your state, even if it was a free state, your legal enforcement community had to cooperate and return the slave to its master. the supreme court of the state of wisconsin in 1844 declared that law unconstitutional. the tensions between the powers of the federal government to limit a national problem and the rise of the state and the problem to make their own decisions.

of course, tragically, the most dramatic manifestation of this was the civil war. the civil war itself was about this very question. wrapped up in a states rights and slavery. it was a question about the powers of the arrow government and what are the powers reserved to the states and the people. we all know the tragedy of that event and what happened. a change in english usage of the term united states. prior to the civil war, people in the united states referred to the united states as a perl -- a plural noun. is.united states the united states are. they are. they are doing this or that. they referred to themselves as a collective, a group of states.

now, the united states is a singular noun, one country. it is. they are. an amazing development. that shows how the peoples view of the what their country was all about changed. the new deal and the two crises , the depression and war, particularly the depression. the issue then was fought out in the supreme court. the commerce clause would not stretch that far. of course, there was a lot of politics and discussion. the case went back, i believe it is the sixth chicken case, and the supreme court said, maybe the commerce clause does stretch that far. --e refer to that as beasts as the stitch in time that

saved nine. the civil rights movement as i was growing up and states rights. arerhetoric was about what the powers that we have here in this city versus the communities and the states. and here we are, number 10, the tea party and the urge to shriek -- shrink government. he resistance to affordable care act. i was always surprised that summer of people getting red in the -- right in the face about the healthcare bureau. it was a perception that washington was somehow taking over something that should have been left to them. gun control is a classic example, which we were debating last week. the irony and the difficulty of gun control is the problem is largely local, and particularly in urban areas, but the solution is national because the guns that are being issued -- it's used in urban areas come from all over the country. that is why, in my opinion, we need national legislation and minimum background checks and

trafficking regulation. regulation itself is an expression of governmental power. it has resisted many parts of the country -- budgets. i shouldn't say finally so much. my wife said the gets people hopes up. a budget fundamentally reflects policy. if fundamentally reflects what we believe about ourselves and our government. the budget that has been passed by the house, the so-called ryan budget, is a classic political document. it espouses a philosophy of what the government should be. it is one more step in this discussion. i don't believe that the ryan budget is really about debts and deficits. it is about shrinking government. that is really what the policy is -- to reduce the size of the government to a place where it is much, much smaller. federal spending is not out of control.

nondefense discretionary spending today is the lows it has been in 50 years. defense is about the same. what is out of the control -- out of control as all of the spending on healthcare. that is what is driving the federal debt. it is not about death and deficit, it is about shrinking the government. where does this leave us? history lesson. i hope something more. i think it provides us with a way of understanding what separates us. if we understand what is going on here in this chamber, i think it helps us. second, i think it is important for me, anyway, to believe there is no right answer to this question. there is no right answer. it can't be all one or the other. neither side has exactly the right response. we should not be an uncontrolled central government appeared we should not be a government that is so dispersed that we cannot do anything. hardwired into our system, and i think it helps us find balance policy. we need a national government. we need a strong national government for the same reasons

sent 1789. to solve national problems, problems that cannot be solved at the local level, either because of the scope of the problem itself. global terrorism -- i'm sorry, the boston police of army cannot deal with global terrorism. he smelled decisions will not work. terminal protection -- environmental protection has to be done locally and nationally. loaded water moves. or immigration. there has to be a national solution. strangled in the bathtub is less feasible today that it was in 1789. gridlock, which is ineffective if you think about it. gridlock is total to three for the anti-federalist. gridlock is not the answer. the framers knew the government had to work. it may be slow and cumbersome, but ultimately it had to be functional. medicine recognize this, and so did the preamble. to form a more perfect union.

a more perfect union than that which had been formed by the article of confederation. all federal hand, solutions all the time are not the answer, either. --re is a great dancer that data that we all feel that our job is making laws and the only , thenou have to hammer every problem looks like a nail. we are trying to solve every problem. i believe states rights are important. i think states have an abortion role to play in our system. i think they're the best -- have an important role to play in our system. way.nk they're the best i remember sitting at home and watch a debate between george w. bush and al gore and there were arguing about what size the classrooms should be and what how big the schools should be and i turned to my wife and said these guys think they are running for superintendent of the schools. this is not a federal issue.

the federal government has a responsibility in education to find, do research, and to help but not to guide. overreaching regulation, in my view, is a problem. i believe in structural solutions. i was not a member of this body, but had i been, i suspect i would have us -- would have opposed dodd frank. regulatory solutions always end up being burdens and. a friend of mine in main semiofficial him sitting next to a stack this high of regulation at a community bank as a result of dodd frank that they are going to have to abide by. this is a community bank. it is not copy the financial crisis of 2008. yet they are having to bear the burden of these regulations, which are expensive, which are drying out credit for their cu stomers, and which i do not believe will contribute to a solution. on the anti-

federalist side is the deficits -- is that deficits do matter. we cannot continue to burden our children with the cost of government. and i hypercompetitive world, it seems to me that every tax dollar counts. every regulation must be smart. and minimally intrusive. this is a new world. we are competing not just with countries it -- companies in this country, but with companies across the world, and a one-hour jobs. understanding these differences is the age-old argument. we can't be locked into it. but we do have national challenges. they have to be met with national solutions. challenges like cyber threats, research, infrastructure, terrorism. austin, by the way, is an example of coordination between levels of government that works very effectively. is an example of

coordination. our failure is a disservice to those who have built what we have inherited. calls to cut government spending are fine, but a much -- they must be matched with specific. you can just talk about government spending and not talk about faa towers or our intelligence community or our defense capability. we have to understand that each generation must meet its own challenges and redefine this question with our eyes open to practical effects without blinders on of absolutism or ideology. as i look back on history, the great, smith of this body, the great accomplishments of this government have rarely if ever been victories for one side or the other. and said, they have been based upon hard-fought batteries -- battles of grudging compromise. recognition of national need along with local interest and a willingness to honor our most a fixed charge -- to form a more

perfect union. i hope in a small way to contribute to this. to contribute to the search for solutions that are practical and effective. i'm caucusing with the democrats, but i believe -- but i agree with alexander on the markets fairness act. but with blumenthal and cain on guns. i believe -- i agree with blumenthal on gains, but i believe that i agree with coburn on regulation. but i agree with murray on the budget. we face serious challenges to fix budget and constantly changing circumstance. constantly changing circumstances. we live in a time of accelerating change. mr. president, almost exactly 150 years ago, our greatest presidents sent a message to congress in the midst of the greatest crisis this country has ever faced.

his message was about change and about how to deal with change and was to try to shake congress out of the lethargy of politics as usual. because we were in the midst of a civil war. that the crises we face today collectively or individually equal the civil war, but they are pretty serious. i have been in hearings in the last two weeks in the intelligence committee, the armed services committee, and every single one of the top officials in both defense and intelligence have said this is the most dangerous and complements -- most dangerous period they have experience in this business. so we are facing some serious challenges. i want to share with you what i believe are most profound observations about how we deal with change but i have ever encountered. december 2, 1862, president lincoln sick -- sent the

message. here is how it ended. the darkness of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy residents -- presence. the occasion is piled high with difficulty, and therefore we .ust rise with the occasion as our case is new, we must think anew and act anew." here is the key line -- "we must dissent all ourselves and then we shall save our country." hrall ourselves,l and then we shall save our country." thank you, mr. president. " hashe washington post

said that seeing the arrival that the white house correspondent dinner is something that everyone should see. c-span will be at the washington hilton for tonight's white house correspondent dinner. the gathering of washington politicians, members of the national media, and hollywood celebrities. you can see all life beginning 6:15 p.m. with the red carpet arrival. then, the awards presentations. and remarks by featured speakers. president obama and comedian conan o'brien. before that begins, we will also show you some highlights and some of the entertainment from previous white house correspondents dinners. that begins at 3:00 p.m. eastern today here on c-span. >> at least one confederate soldiers wrote that there were two battles at chancellor sville. may 2 and may 3. may 2, battle of the generals.

it was the day of delivery and minimal casualties. may 3 was the battle of the soldiers. that was the battle of no more movement or maneuvers. it was a day where there was no more guile, it was just flat-out frontal assaults. sheer might and overwhelming casualties. about 75% of the losses that occurred at chancellor'sville occurred in just five hours. >> with troops outnumbered to 21. the battle of chancellorsville maybe robert e lee's greatest victory. that's tonight at 10:00 p.m. eastern on c-span3. >> at a hearing on presentation with a, faa administrator answered many questions from lawmakers concerning budget and

imposed furloughs and the effects on travelers and airline schedules. committee chairman said the administration failed to warn the house of the impact of the budget cuts. here is a portion of that exchange. >> quiddity furlough policy go into effect? -- when did the furlough policy go into effect? thatth the pay period began on sunday, april 21. the furlough itself. we had to notify employees -- there were two notifications. starting about five weeks ahead of that where we notified them of the possibility of furlough and then the intent that we were actually going to carry it out. --so that was april the when they got the word. >> no, they got the detailed word, i will get back you with an exact date, but we did

provide them with an official notification that it would start, and i think it was a week week or two before april 21. >> never the less, it was what a week ago, 10 days ago? sayi hear you correctly that you first gave the airlines and airports and infrastructure notice of how this thing was going to be applied last wednesday? weno, what i said was that provided notification to them of the general impact. we provided -- >> i'm not worried about general impact. i want you to tell us what you told them, the details, which airports, what times they would have trouble. that was last wednesday as i understand it. >> tuesday. >> last tuesday. pardon me. itch was a few days before went into effect. >> that is correct. >> and we have got hundreds of airports.

we have gotten dozens of airlines. got millions of americans wanting to make their .lans for travel why did you wait until that long to tell these functionaries, the airlines, airports, personnel, the detailed impact of snowquester. why wait that long? you have had this under consideration, as you said, for several months. hoursu waited until before it was going to be placed into effect to tell the relevant stakeholders. i find that shocking. a shocking lapse of management. would you comment on that? >> we build detailed schedules within each of these facilities, and we shared this information with the airlines that we had it. >> and that was a few hours

before it went into effect. but you have been doing this for months. why couldn't you have brought the men earlier so that they could have made their plans? >> we had been talking about general impact. >> of general advice, again. they knew the general impact. >> we had been talking about reduction and available controller hours of and percent or months or a >> but you did not tell them which airports, which airlines. >> we told them that they should expect significant airports -- impact that major hub -- >> everyone knew that. that is what sequester is all about. it is important for them to plan their schedules and their hours in their planes. detaileded to know impact on them as early as could be had. and you had months to do that. yet you refused. i find that shocking. >> i don't think we refused. i would say that is what we wanted to do was conduct a

proper schedule and analysis and then provide them the best information we could. >> how did you inform them? >> in a meeting that we had at the command center. >> a meeting between whom? >> our operations team led by our traffic organization. >> what did you inform the airports? a meeting. we have had a number of meetings with the aviation industry, first about contract hours and then talking about the impacts associated from the furloughs. >> you that all of the airlines in the room. >> we get together with them every day in an operational capacity. >> there are hundreds of airports. did you have the mini meeting. >> the airports, we -- not every airport is affected by the the furloughs. but we certainly identify through their associations the major impacted airports. >> so you did this with a conference call. >> no, with a meeting. >> did you ask them for their

input, their suggestions or ideas? >> we are continuing to have a conversation. we shared with them, this is what our analysis showed, and we will continue that discussion every y going forward. >> did you take into account the thataints, the information they give to you? >> absolutely. >> were they shocked when you told them at the last minute the impact on their airport? airline. >> une to talk about what their reaction was, but they expressed great concern. wednesday.was on and the following senate action on thursday, the house phone it -- voted 361-41 two indices for the furloughs dealing flights. the bill measure allows the faa to use money from airport

improvement and other accounts to end the floor close -- to end the furloughs. here is the debate. it is just under an hour. >> mr. chairman, i come today with hr' -- a bill that provides for any other account in the faa to the operations account. the purpose of this transfer of a reliable ande safe service in the commercial air traffic system by reducing or eliminating employee furlough days. i think we agree the faa and the administration has handled the sequester poorly. the faa has negotiated in bad faith with the faa employees, the airlines, flying public, and the congress. the administration has played shameful politics with sequestration at the cost of hard-working american families. as i have often said, this is no way to run a government.

the congress is stepping in to correct the problems, created by the administration's inaction. we are taking this step because of the mismanagement of this important function for the safety of all americans who fly and on behalf of the commerce that depends on a reliable air system. we are taking this action to end the administration's political games that are threatening our passengers' rights and safety. the fact that we are here today trying to solve this problem is a result of the sequester. i remind you the president brought the sequester to the table. in an effort to avoid the arbitrary $1.2 trillion of cuts mandated by the budget control act, twice the majority in this house have passed legislation that would have replaced the sequestration with targeted

spending cuts of an equal dollar amount. the senate has never considered either of these bills, and thus the sequestration was triggered. this situation goes to show we need to return to regular order and consider appropriation bills in their entirety and not rely on continuing resolutions to fund the government. under a c.r., there is no way to protect programs related to the safety of the american public. it shows we must have a long- term comprehensive solution to our budget challenges, one that removes the sequester and provides sustainability and stability in the federal budget. mr. speaker, i put the administration, the secretary, the agency on alert that we are watching. we have questions that we want

answers about how they are using these funds and how they are going to be managed by the department. like i said at the faa hearing this last wednesday, the safety of our air space cannot be subject to political posturing. i reserve the balance of my. >> the gentleman reserves. >> mr. speaker, i ask consent to revise and extend my remarks. >> so ordered. >> i yield myself such time as i may consume. >> the gentleman is recognized. >> i would tell my dear friend that we agree on one thing, and this is the notion that this is not a good way to run a government. i have to remind him and all my colleagues that a year and a half ago we were in this house, in this chamber talking about the budget control act, as i remember.

a year and a half ago we had a vote. i did not support the legislation because i felt that sequestration was a bad idea. but the house passed the bill, the senate passed the bill, and the president signed it. for me, it is difficult to lay blame on any one party, because this was done in a bipartisan manner. it is difficult for me to lay blame on one chamber, because both chambers passed the bill, because this was an action taken in the house, passed by the senate, and signed by the president. i have to tell you that the

administrator was before our subcommittee this week. he detailed the cuts that he had to make based on the rules and regulations of the various laws that deal with sequestration. that is why towers were ordered to be shut, and that is what we had to furlough the faa air traffic controllers. in his testimony, the administrator reminded us that in february of this year a

letter was sent by secretary lahood to the leadership, including myself and chairman latham, that this sequestration was going to cause a problem in the efficiency of the air traffic control system because there would be a furlough of air traffic controllers in order to meet the cuts that were required by sequestration. that was done in february. in march, when sequestration was invoked, the faa had to implement a plan to see what it had to do to meet the number of cuts it had to make, but not to take away the safety of our air

traffic control system knowing that its efficiency would be diminished. today we are here bringing a fix to this situation. furloughs have been taken, 10% of employees have been furloughed, and that has a result of passengers' inconvenience, delays, or canceled flights. the problem is, and i agree with my chairman, this is not a good solution because there are other agencies that have to make their cuts and are in a crisis themselves. hopefully not. when we come back from our work time, there will not be another agency, another crisis that we

have to start shifting from one account to save another account. mr. speaker, the solution is a comprehensive removal of sequestration, and that will only come about in my belief in my opinion if the house with its budget, the senate with its budget, will conference and work out the details that it needs to work out to have a comprehensive solution, not to our budget, but also to end sequestration, and that needs to be done in order we are not dealing with issue by issue, crisis by crisis. so i agree with my chairman, that this is not a good way to run a government, but this morning i asked my colleagues to support the legislation, and i reserve.

>> the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from iowa is recognized. >> i would yield one minute to the gentleman from north carolina. >> thank you. for this administration, the terms sequestration has become synonymous with fear. i have been disappointed that the faa chose to close the contract control towers in 149 airports, including my home town of concord, north carolina. this airport is the third busiest in north carolina. it was named as an airport of national significance because it is the reliever airport for charlotte, which is the sixth busiest airport in the world. the decision to close these towers at a savings of $50

million is hard to understand en you consir the fact that the faa requested $15.1 billion for fiscal year 2013 and through sequester is receiving $15.9 billion, an increase over the amount of money the faa said they needed to operate. i can only conclude their goal is to make sequester cuts and threatens people's their safety. >> i would yield the gentleman 30 seconds. >> i will conclude by saying i support this bill because it ends the political gains by giving the secretary the flexibility he needs to keep i wouldowers open.

encourage the secretary to do that for the safety of our local communities. thank you. >> mr. speaker, the gentleman from maryland is recognized for two minutes. >> i rise in opposition to this "noce of legislation. members of congress should be surprised that the havoc wrought by the sequester. presentation secretary ray lahood repeatedly warned them about the consequences. flight delays are just the tip of the iceberg. visible above the water line for most americans and as time goes on without a big balanced deficit solution more icebergs will surface. more americans will be negatively affected.

while i want to tend delays, i will oppose this bill because it fails to address the whole impact of sequester. let me share a handful of examples of how sequester will affect americans. education, head start, 70,000 children will be kicked out of head start. nothing in this bill deals with them. furloughs for disability claims, nothing in this bill deals with them. 4 million fewer meals on wheels for seniors. 600,000 people dropped off wic. nothing for them. housing, 125 less housing vouchers, nothing in here for them. emergency unemployment insurance cut for out of work americans, nothing in here for them. f.d.a. fewer food inspections, nothing in here for them. longer waits to approve new drugs, nothing in here for them.

defense and homeland security furloughs equivalent to 1,000 fewer agents for the f.b.i., border, etc. on the job. 1/3 of air combat units are grounded, nothing in here for them. 89,000 agency wide furloughs in irs up to seven days -- may i have 30 additional seconds? >> you may. >> nothing in here for them. they serve 89,000 taxpayers trying to find help. we ought not to be mitigating the affect on just one segment when children, the sick, our military and many other groups will be impacted by this irresponsible policy are left unhelped. instead of addressing this serious wound with a small band aid let's get to work on a real solution. let's go to conference and get a big deal. let's deal with all the adverse consequences of sequester, not just those that affect the

powerful air travel letters of america. we ought to help them but we ought to help everybody else as well and i yield back the balance of my time. >> i yield myself 30 seconds. it's fascinating what the administration that insisted on the sequestration, the gentleman just spoke supported the sequestration. so now to come and make a statement is quite fascinating. mr. speaker i would yield one minute to the gentleman from new york. >> i'd like to thank the gentleman from iowa for yielding. i support the underlying bill and before i make my comments i would ask my colleague from maryland we have an opportunity to send a message to america we have a bill that will address an issue that needs to be addressed

on behalf of american citizens. let us start here on a bipartisan fashion to solve the problems. mr. speaker, i rise in support of the underlying bill because i have heard from my constituents in new york where a contract tower is going to be closed. what this bill does is restore that funding on a common sense basis where that contract tower, my sincere hope and belief will be preserved and go forward. that will preserve the safety of my air traveling public. i'm proud to stand here today because of bipartisan efforts we worked together to solve this issue. let's pass this bill and move forward. >> the time is expired. >> i yield 30 seconds to the gentleman from maryland. >> i thank you the gentleman for yielding. let me inform my friend in iowa

he misstates my position. i have been gent the sequester every year i was on the appropriations committee. i opposed your cap bill which you supported which had sequester as the alternative. the president is against sequester, the senate budget is against sequester and you would not allow us to offer an amendment four times which would have precluded sequester, not only for air travel but for the children of head start and buy medical research. if you are going to state the facts, state the correct ones. >> the speaker reminds all members to address their remarks to the speaker. i yield two minutes to the gentleman from north carolina mr. price. >> gentleman from north carolina is recognized for two minutes. >> hypocrisy is reaching new heights in this body. many said bring it on as sequestration loomed.

many who really lished to this crisis. speaker boehner said the sequestration bill included 98% of what republicans wanted and republicans showed they valued their anti-tax ideology more than defense or any other cuts. now that sequestration fell as a result they claim it doesn't need to hurt very much. and when the cuts bite, the president must be doing this just to make a political point. so this apparently wasn't supposed to be about air traffic control. the read the bill caucus needs to read the bill. it was about air traffic control and today we are going to apply a much needed band aid. maybe tomorrow we can have a bill applying to cancer research. then the next day let's have a bill about cancer treatments.

then the next day let's have a bill about head start. then let's have one about tuition assistance to our military personnel. then let's have one about the border patrol. and by the way, if and when we apply these band aids, we need to realize we are shifting cuts to equally important areas that aren't in the news at the moment or that don't have powerful lobbies working on their behalf. my colleagues, i want to address these crisis as much as any must be and contain the damage. but damage control is not a budget policy. sequestration is a self- inflicted wound unworthy of those who profess to govern. it's hypocritical and misleading having imposed on the administration to pretend that the president could fix this problem with a flick of the wrist. sequestration is a disaster. it needs to be reversed. it need to be replaced.

by a comprehensive budget plan that includes tax expenditures which are the real drivers of the deficit. >> the speaker would now like to recognize the distinguished gentleman from arkansas for one minute. >> thank you mr. speaker. i rise today to encourage my colleagues to pass this measure to stop president obama's needless furlough of air traffic controllers. further this legislation empowers the f.a.a. to restore funding for 150 towers operated by private contractors around the country. the furloughs have received media attention this week but we shouldn't overlook the role these towers play in places like arkansas. these airports handle almost 30% of all aviation traffic providing vital relief to some of our most congested airports. the importance of these towers can't be overstated. i introduced legislation to

restore funding for those towers. i'm confident the f.a.a. will use this bill to restore funding for these essential contractor operated air traffic control towers. again, i want to thank my colleagues for their support for this measure and i yield back the balance of my time. >> before i yield time, i'd like to remind my colleague this bill was passed by the house, the senate and signed by the president. that is what brought us sequestration. >> i thank the gentleman for yielding. this is an usual morning. we are because of the refusal of the republicans to come to the table for a conference. what is a conference? a conference is a public open

meeting where differences between the house budget bill and the senate bill can be reconciled. it is done with transparency and in full public view. we have the american people be the judge of what is their statement of values. afraid of that public scrutiny the republicans have refused to appoint conferees for a conference. we call upon the speaker to appoint conferees so we can have that public airing, that transparent view of something very important. the republican leadership has said in the house and senate they want the regular order. what is the regular order?

the regular order is the house passes a bill, the senate passes a bill. you go to conference. now afraid that their views may be rejected by the american people they don't want to go to conference. that's why we are here this morning for sequestration. what is sequestration? sequestration is a mindless across the board cutting of what we are now recognizing and republicans are recognizing as something that should not be cut. it affects the efficiency and safety of our airports. that's very important. but as our distinguished democratic whip mr. hoyer has pointed out, there is much more that need to be addressed instead of using this as a vehicle. one of the distinguished chairman said earlier the safety

of our airports should not be subject to political debate. neither should the education of our children, the nutrition for our seniors, 4 million meals on wheels. tens of thousands of children thrown off head start. our defense mindless across the board cuts. what that means for our national security and for the workers in our national security sector. the list goes on and on. investments in our future. bio-medical research cut by this. so i suppose if this is an example of governance that the republicans will next come one something else and say we should t exempt that. why don't we just get rid of the problem? why don't we just get rid of the problem and go to conches? some of the press said to me does this hurt your leverage in going to conference.

i said no this is an opportunity because it demonstrates to the american people how unwihi course of action is and how much better it would be to find solutions to get results in the regular order respectful of everyone's point of view but recognizing that decisions made here have an impact. not only in the lives of the children and the lives of their teachers, in the lives of all consumers, it will have an impact on our economy as well. so this should be a clarion call. it's almost ludicrous to here my republican colleagues to get up there and talk about their individual airports. most of us have airports. we understand what this issue is about. why don't you understand that there is a great deal at stake including the efficiency and safety of our airports but also

again the education of our children? how can we is it there and say 4 million meals on wheels for seniors gone. thousands of children off head start, but that isn't important. what is important is for the republicans to hold a hard line about the debate that a conference would provide. some members vote the way they are going to vote on this but recognize that this is not the way congress should be meeting the needs of the american people. let's go to a conference. mr. speaker, appoint conferees so we can end this mindless addressing the sequestration. thank you, mr. speaker. >> the gentlewoman yields back.

>> i would like to recognize the gentleman from pennsylvania for one minute. >> the gentleman from pennsylvania is recognized for one minute. >> thank you mr. speaker. i do supports legisln. on wednesday f.a.a. administrator admitted he saw no flexibility for the flying public. we are giving him this flexibility now. the faa blind sided everyone by failing to properly notify them about implementation of the sequester. they notified them a week ago about the specifics. that is mismanagement. that is mismanagement. this bill fixes the problem by keeping air traffic controllers working and the towers operating. it provides the flexibility the f.a.a. need and should have been asked for by the administration. classic case of mismanagement. please support the legislation.

i yield back. >> any manifestation of approval or disapproval is in violation of the rules of the house. gentleman from arizona is recognized. >> mr. speaker i yield one minute to the gentleman from west virginia, the ranking member of the authorizing committee. >> gentleman from west virginia is recognized for one minute. >> i thank the gentleman for yielding. i support as the flight delays mounted this week due to the furlough and republicans claimed the f.a.a. had the flexibility to avoid this disruption and politics were at play. that's like the pot calling the kettle black. march many of these same members recognized the across the board nature of the sequester when there was a bill to avoid the furlough of meat inspectors. my good friend of secretary of traffic is a good honorable man.

i take issue with those who accuse him of playing politics. those who take a piece mill approach. i share the concerns of others who are being burdened by the sequester such as a child thrown out of head start or a senior who depends on males on wheels. on wheels. -- meals on wheels. the sequester is not just an inconvenience to business travel letters, we are talking about transporting patients. >> time is expired. the gentleman from iowa is recognized. >> mr. speaker, i would like to recognize the distinguished chairman of traffic infrastructure committee the gentleman from pennsylvania. >> the gentleman from pennsylvania is recognized for one minute. >> i rise in support so we can stop this needless pain on the american traveling public and our economy.

the administration and the f.a.a. has refused for months to provide us with a plan to work with the airline industry to figure out how this could be implemented without all this pain to the traveling public and the economy. i'd like to remind my colleagues this industry provide a trillion dollars to our economy. it's important to the hardworking men and women of america that our airlines and folks are getting where they need to be on time without delay. this is damaging to the economy. this has been mismanaged and i believe this bill will force the administration to stop these needless furloughs so we can continue making sure that the airline industry is functioning to keep our economy growing and stop the safety concerns to the traveling public. with that i yield back. >> the gentleman yields back. >> i yield one minute to the gentleman from washington. >> the gentleman from washington is recognized for one minute.

>> thank you mr. speaker. before we pat each other on the back for this bill, i think it's important we recognize it's not fixing the bigger problem se head start students will have to find their own way to school as bus service is being cut because of sequester. now we can ask these four-year- olds to ride tricycles to class or book a flight. budgets are being cut mandated by sequestration. we're not doing anything to help the kid today. we're not helping seniors who are getting males on wheels no no -- meals on wheels no longer delivered to them. it not just my district. every member represents a district whose kids and seniors are being hurt to clean up a failure we caused.

this is a band aid and sequestration needs a triple bypass surgery. sequestration is a little bit like the person who kicks a boulder and then blames the boulder for his broken toe. congress created this problem. we need to fix it. i yield back. >> the gentleman from iowa is recognized. >> i'd like to recognize the gentleman from illinois for one minute. >> the gentleman from illinois is recognized for one minute. >> thank you. i'd like to first thank the senate for sending this piece of legislation over to us to provide a fix, a fiction that isn't necessary to provide. but the administration through a lack of leadership is proving that we have to do this now. we are here today because this administration has decided to put politics over passengers. from the very beginning of sequestration this administration and its departments claimed they didn't have the flexibility to avoid cuts that would affect americans the most. the proposed tower closings and furloughs that were announced are irresponsible and

indefensible. the f.a.a. already has the flexibility we are granting them today but they are unwilling to take advantage of that. we are here today because it's time to stop the excuses. we owe it to the american people to pass this bill to get the f.a.a. to act responsibly to protect the traveling public. i urge you, tell your administration to grow up. >> the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from arizona is recognized. >> i yield one minute to the gentleman from new jersey. >> the gentleman from new jersey is recognized for one minute. so ordered. >> we're here this morning because americans are understandably upset at sitting and waiting at airport gates. but there are other americans who are sitting and waiting. there are moms sitting and waiting at home to enroll their

children in head start. r thisill they will still be waiting. there are pilots in our air force and navy sitting and waiting to fly their training missions, 1/3 of our planes are grounded. after this bill, they'll still be sitting. they'll still be waiting. there are senior citizens who need to go to chemotherapy at out patient clinics around this country, but because of the cutback of sequestration their doctors aren't seeing them. after this bill, they will still be sitting and waiting. this congress has done too much sitting and too much waiting when it comes to sequestration. the senate has passed a budget that ends sequestration. there is an opportunity to is it at a conference, negotiate and pass that budget instead of sitting and waiting, let's start working and negotiating and pass the senate budget. >> the gentleman from iowa is recognized.

>> thank you mr. speaker. i'd like to recognize the gentleman from florida, for one minute. >> the gentleman is recognized for one minute. >> thank you. why are we here? we're here because of a colossal failure of leadership and the ability to manage resources. first of all i can tell you that there are plenty of air traffic controllers. just go online and get this report plan for the future. some of our airports have far more air traffic controllers than we need. in fact, air traffic control, the last ten years is down 27% and we still have close to 15,000 air traffic controllers. this legislation does provide a fig leaf for the administration that says they don't have the

authority. they have the ability and authority to move resources and people around. so that gives us the opportunity to get the flying public flying again. so again we have the resources, they have the money and here we are giving them the final figure leaf they have asked for and they say they need to get this done. i can tell you if ronald reagan were president, we would not be in this mess. thank you. >> mr. speaker i yield one minute to the gentleman from maryland. >> the gentleman from maryland is recognized for one minute. >> thank you mr. speaker. after the vote on this today, members of this house are going to run for the airports. they are all going to be flying home on airplanes and yes they will make it easier for members of congress to get through these lines. and they will pat themselves on the back and say job well done. well obviously we should address the issue at the airports.

but we need to address the other issues right now. and not make it easier for members of congress to fly home for a week away when we should be a week right here making sure we do not sethe negative impacts of the sequester grind on for the kids in head start or seniors on males on wheels and folks doing important life saving research. mr. speaker, four times this year we have offered a proposals to replace the entire sequester, to achieve the same deficit reduction without the kind of damage that's been done and four times we haven't even had a chance to vote on the floor of this house. now we're simply asking to go to conference which our republican colleagues complain they didn't pass a budget. they got one. let's go to conference rather than go home. >> the gentleman recognized. >> mr. speaker i would now like to recognize the gentlewoman

from minnesota for o and a half minutes. >> she is recognized for one and a half minutes. >> it's high time that the f.a.a., mr. speaker, have the flexibility they need to have on closures of any air traffic control towers. it is my hope that minnesota and other airports do remain open. they are vital and much needed. we are looking at approximately 189 airports. i want to speak to something else. we were listening to representative hoyer and representative pelosi be extremely passionate about the loss we'll see for children through head start, for senior citizens through meals on wheels. for children who will be dealing with other food nutrition programs. that breaks everyone's hearts. but i want to remind the people of this country that it was former speaker pelosi, senator reid and president obama who

signed the sequestration bill and it was press secretary jay carney who admitted that the sequestration was president obama's idea. there are numerous republicans there are numerous republicans that voted against the sequestration because we knew all of these calamities were in the future. and so it reminds me of the shakespeare line thousand protestith too much. didn't you know this was going to happen. that's why we voted against this bill. and the higher the level of passion that equals the conscious we're seeing of those who voted the wrong way on this bill the first time. i'm for this bill and i yield back. >> the gentleman from arizona is recognized. >> mr. speaker before i yield

time to the lady, i have to remind my colleague that i voted against that bill. and the bill passed because there was a majority of republicans who supported it. and so we just can't blame one house or one senate or the president because all of us share the blame. >> the republicans offered their bill. it was called cut, cap and balance. and they voted on that bill before we ever got to sequester. and in cut, cap and balance your alternative if you didn't reach your numbers was sequester. sequester was your policy. and the c.r. you had mr. rogers bring to the floor which i voted against when it went from here to there as did every democrat, it said it was going to bet to >>entleman from arizona

is recognized. >> one minute to the gentle lade from california. >> the gentle lady is recognized from california. >> i rise to support the bill reducing flight delays act of 2013. i don't want anybody to be mistaken about why i support this bill. i want ms. backman to understand we know that she has led the tea party and the right wing on all of these issues and that she led on the discussion on sequestration. it was a bad policy. it should not have been adopted by either side of the aisle. however that is the order of the day. and we need to bring the budget to the floor and have a conference committee so we can adopt some of what was adopted on the senate side to get rid of the sequestration. meanwhile, the f.a.a. plans

the furloughs have began. it started on april 21. >> your time is expired. we are going to be back up there. >> thank you, speaker. the gentleman from iowa is recognized. >> at this time i will reserve my time. the gentleman from arizona is recognized. speaker, how much time do we have? iowa hasntleman from seven and a half minutes. >> do you want to even out the time? >> do you have two more

speakers? justi ave one re.s you g ead with your speaker now. i will have one, you will have one, and then we can close. >> thank you. i yield to the gentlewoman from texas. >> the gentlewoman from texas is recognized for one minute. >> this is a hostagetaking. i know the american people are watching the blame game. the blame game, my republican friends held this body hostage. we will not pay our debts. we are losing jobs, head start programs. i believe in air traffic controllers, but we are holding them hostage. what about the person who cannot afford an airline ticket? it is important that we stand for the millions of dollars that we are losing for homeland security. is it time to take millions from military families? mr. speaker asked unanimous consent to repeal the section

of the budget control act of 11 to get rid of the sequester. go to a budget conference. have a budget. get rid of the sequester. bring it up now. i asked unanimous consent. >> does the gentleman from iowa yield for that purpose? >> yes. excuse me? >> can we bring it up now? >> bring up the question, right now. >> will the gentleman yield? >> no. >> we have to save the traveling public. but i ask a question about 5000 children in texas that will lose head start, or millions of seniors, or our mitary families, that will lose support because we got the sequester, on the shoulders of those who believe that the way we run the country is/and burn. help the american people. i yield back.

>> i would like to recognize the gentleman from texas for 1.5 minutes. >> the gentleman from texas is >> we have heard a lot of rhetoric today that sequestration is the problem. i would like to remind you that sequestration, that president obama proposed was the only solution we could agree on to the real problem, the fact that this government is spending close to one dollar 50 -- $1.50 for every one dollar a brings him. we could not get agreement from the other side to find cuts. now, even though sequestration is painful, it is working. we are going to be able to get the cuts that need to be made to their budget, without affecting flight delays, and without furloughing people. it is my contention this can happen throughout the government and throughout all

agencies. if these agencies and the president had come back to this congress, saying, we can do these cuts thiy, imagine almost every one of those would have passed on unanimous consent. they certainly probably would have passed on a suspension like this one. i urge my colleagues to take this first set to solve the problem with the faa. i look forward to working with other agencies to find the cuts we need, and to spare the american people the pain that is intentionally being inflicted. some people do not want to cut a dime out of the american budget. the american people know instinctively there is waste, fraud, and abuse, and there are savings to be had. we are going to try to do it in the best possible way. i yield act. >> the gentleman from arizona is recognized. time. chairman, how much do we have? >> the gentleman from arizona has a minute and a half remaining. the gentleman from iowa has six minutes remaining.

>> i will yield one minute to the gentle lady from washington, d.c. >> i thank the gentleman for yielding. mr. speaker, congress did not foresee the controllers crisis. they will not foresee the next one. we have not solved the crisis with money. it was not about money. it was not about cuts. it was solved thfashioned way. they simply move money around. this is exactly what was done with appropriations. we can solve this if we have a meeting of both sides of the aisle on the budget. what would happen at that meeting would probably be not to cut a thing, but simply to allow agencies the flexibility to move money around, precisely as has been done with the

controllers crisis. not one cent was changed. just the flexibility, the common sense that we now need to do with every single appropriation. i yield back and thank the gentleman. theight i inquire, gentlewoman from arizona -- you have 30 seconds. if you would like to go ahead and close. >> i will reserve at this time. >> mr. speaker, i yield myself the time i will consume. toise to ask my colleagues support this bill. it is a one-time fix in a crisis we are having today with our air traffic system. but i join my colleagues, as well as probably my chairman, in asking the house leadership, the republican leadership, the democratic leadership, to please work on a comprehensive

solution to sequester, in order that we can bring regular order, and get the government the americans deserve. >> i thank the gentleman. i yield myse asuc i may consume. i want to associate myself with what my good friend and ranking member on the subcommittee just said. we have got to find a solution, come to an agreement. this is a horrible way to run a government. when you take a meat ax approach to departments that have no common sense -- that is wh we need to get back to regular order around here, actually do appropriation bills. we would avoid these types of catastrophic -- potentially catastrophic situations that we findsen. mr. speaker, i would just ask

everyone to understand that the senate sent this over last night. it is now our bill. as senate will approve it soon as we pass it in the house. it is very important we do this for the american people, the traveling public, for safety of the syst, to make sure that our commerce continues. i would ask everyone to support this bill. let us fix the big problem and come to a budget agreement. i yield back the balance of my time. >> alan snyder is a little transportation reporter. what finally got lawmakers to pass a bill ending furloughs at the faa? washe number one thing outcry from the public. there have been thousands of delayed flights. lawmakers have heard from constituents, from the airline industry. there was a lot of pressure from the american public on this issue.

>> what does this allow the faa to do? >> it is a very narrow bill. basically, it explicitly gives the transportation secretary the authority to transfer $253 million. that is enough money to pay the controller salaries, and also have about $21 million left over that can be used to keep some contract control towers open, which is another issue that had been hurt by the sequester. >> does president obama support this effort? what should we expect from him? carneyst secretary jay said the president did plan to sign it. expect to see that anytime today, or very soon. >> democrats are saying there are lots of other priorities that should also get a reprieve from the sequestration cuts. should we expect to see other bills aimed at stemming the effects of the sequester on other programs?

>> yes. a lot of democrats want a full sequester replacement. there are a lot of statements from people saying, sort of begrudgingly signing off on this, but wanting the whole thing replaced. we have heard about the meat inspectors. we have heard about meals on wheels, head start, and things like that. there is definitely a lot of angst on the democratic side of the aisle on this issue. >> republicans argue that sequester cuts are the brainchild of the president and his administration, and that this is congress's way of fixing a problem created by the president. is that true or false? >> it is both true and false. a lot of people say it was the president, but congress had to sign off on this. the cleared the house and senate. congress definitely had a hand in this. whose idea it was might be a little irrelevant. everybody ended up approving this. >> republicans also argued that

this bill was unnecessary, and the faa already had the authority to move money around, and controllers did not have to be furloughed in the first place. what are democrats saying? >> democrats for the most part say that is false. a number of republicans have argu they already have the flexibility. mr. james lankford, a member of the republican leadership, yesterday told me that this administration is not to the letter of the law, which was a little jab at the administration. he said, even if the law is not on their side, i do not see why they do not do this anyway. the democrats said, the sequester is an account by count line item cut, and they did not have that authority. >> how quickly can the faa get back to business as usual?

>> i would say very quickly. controllers have been furloughed by one day per pay. -- per pay period. i would think this would be a small administrative issue. next friday they might have had to not work. i think we should see things moving pretty quickly. >> adam snyder reports on transportation for politico. we thank you for your time today. the event brings together hollywood politicians, members of the media, and national celebrities. you can watch it tonight live at 6:15 p.m. and the awards presentation and remarks by speakers president obama and comedian conan o'brien. we will show you some highlights and some of the entertainment from previous

white house correspondents' dinner. all of that right here on c- span. >> and two house foreign affairs subcommittees examine the status of islamic terrorist groups in chechnya and whether they are a threat to u.s. security. the two boston marathon bombing suspects visited their prior to the attack on boston. this is about 90 minutes. >> i called to order this joint hearing of the foreign affairs subcommittee on europe, eurasia, and nonferrous proliferation and trade. today's topic is islamists extremism in chechnya, a threat

to the u.s. homeland. after the chairman and i do to cope -- each of us have five minutes to make opening statements. each member will then have one minute to make aoping statement between the majority and minority members. without objection all members may have five days to submit statements, questions, and extraneous journals for the record. the origins of the terrorist attack in boston have drawn attention to a region that has not received the study that it deserves. the terrorist brothers had roots in chechnya even though they grew up in america and saw u.s.

citizenship. of the northern caucuses. were fought in chechnya in the 1990's as the province saw independence from russia. many chechnya's fled to other parts of the region and into central asia. pakistan was not directly involved in the war but has certainly been affected by them and is now a hotbed of rad islamic activity. there are reports of chechnya's fighting in afghanistan and chechnya and the networks in europe. a qaeda has made recruitment priority and they were thought to have been trained in pakistan. the appearance of chechen fighters assad of the northern caucuses is ominous.

the original uprising against russia was secular and nationalist. within this context there would be no motive for chechnya and exiles to attach united states. especially after we have given them sanctuary. obviously some chechnya's have had their world view radicalized, as was the case with the two boston terrorists who turned from young people being raised here into a jihadist mentality of global war against ininfidels. why is it happening? what outside forces have saw to transform the northern caucuses in central asia into a region

of muslim extremism that did not exist before. in particular, what impact the -- does arabia play saudi arabia play and other islamic countries? greater cooperation with russia and the governments of central explored in order to properly understand and respond this emerging threat. this is critical to the future of the human race. by a becomes dominated radical version of its long it will change the course of history in an extremely negative way.

muslims deserve freedom and progress. the g hottest mindset hates mindset--he jihadist his freedom and will drown progress in a sea of blood. they have attacked the united --tes as well as russian russia. pardon me, i have a cold today. we must find ways to expand our long friendship with muslims in order to build a better future. that future should be of peace and prosperity for all people,

especially the people of central asia. all of us deserve to live in such a positive world. positive ways of moving forward with these people. thus we have gathered a panel of experts to give us their advice today. and now the ranking member. >> thank you, mr. chairman. today we are examining a region in the world where up until a week ago we did not know a great deal about. the boston marathon bombings in my home state changed that i would like to take a moment with knowledge of victims and families that were forever changed by this senseless act. i would like to thank those in boston who worked around the clock to save lives and prevent other tragedies from occurring that week. many there world of -- their view of the world has become much smaller.

whether there is any connectivity between what had happened in boston and watertown massachusetts has extended into the northern caucuses. this committee has the responsibility to gather information about possible threats at home and improved our counter-terrorism cooperation with other nations. i wish the discussion with the northern caucuses could have taken place under different circumstances. this is a discussion with having -- worth having. according to the 2012 report armed conflict in the northern caucuses -- in the northern caucuses is the number one cause of violence. it has been a tough focus on

eradicating the insurgency. while this policy has had successes some 574 insurgents, security forces, and civilians have died since september 2012. attackse almost daily in the region. it is important to understand the description of terrorism within russia. simply put what began as an fueled intogle is an insurgency that presents a threat to our homeland. our world is more interconnected than ever and all ec great strides in bringing together international business groups and communication we have yet to see that same time the cooperation and international security matters and information sharing apparatuses. there is a delicate balance

between cooperation with russia on counter terrorism and concern over russia's human-rights abuses. inno way should this hinder the working to protect the lives of innocent people. at the end of the date that is all we want. continues istigation int hope this hearing will be insightful as we move to strengthen our national information sharing. i look forward to hearing from our panel of witnesses and i am particularly excited to hear from the europe director of the international crisis group, who happens to be visiting here. i want to thank you all for being here and i look forward to your testimony. >> thank you very much for that very thoughtful opening statement. the people who were hurt and killed up in boston, they are all part of our american family.

int like anyone who died 9/11. we grieve with you. that theseitted things to not happen to other members of the american family. >> thank you, mr. share. a i recognize the chairman of subcommittee of his own that focuses on such threats of terrorism as well as non- proliferation of trading. express myt to sympathies to the victims of the boston marathon. i will also praised the first responders and citizens of boston on patriot's day for the united effort to capture these bad guys. there's too much that we do not know about the brothers. i am confident that we will get to the bottom of this as the investigation unfolds. yesterday we have learned that the perpetrators were planning

to travel to times square to unleash more mayhem and bombs. they apparently had pipe bombs and another pressure cooker bomb. the american people want answers and so do i.. i want to think the witnesses for being here and it is unfortunate that no one from the federal government was here. questions revolving account -- revolving around the older brother's trip to russia. look into him.o the cia successfully pushed to have him put on the u.s. counter-terrorism watch list. between the time he left for russia and came back his name was not a concern to the u.s. government said u.s. authorities did not flag him. that meant u.s. customs did not stop or question him or let the fbi now he was back so the fbi can talk to him. i do not know why u.s. authorities would decide that

the older brother was not a concern wall in a foreign country under suspicious circumstances were known terrorist organizations operate. we may have the same information sharing or lack of it. the washington post reports that a single u.s. customs and protection official assigned to the joint terrorism task force received a warning that the older brother was suspected and had returned from a trip from russia. there was no indication that the customs official provided that to anybody or any other members of the task force, including the fbi that previously interviewed the militant. 10 years later we should not be struggling with the same issue of information sharing among some american agencies. we do not know of the attackers had ties directly to out canada.

l qaeda.k to ak the magazine provides a step-by- step instructions for anyone wanting to build a device like those built in boston. the old brother went to dagestan for six months between 2011 and put the 12th. he may have been radicalized their. we are not yet certain. it is clear the older brother was the ringleader. chechnya knows controversy. they have been dealing with it for the last 20 years. we can assure there are no shortage of bad guys in places like pakistan who want to get their hands on young wanna be jihadists. encouraged jihadists

to go to chechnya. encouraging been those types of attacks for years, according to terrorism expert groups from the brooklyn institute. islam is under attack from every direction. the bostonfter attack authorities arrested two men for plotting to blow up a train. initial reports suggested al iran ledements in to them. we have many questions that need answers from the threat from terrorist attacks on the world did not die withbin laden.

we need to find out specifically what is taking place in chechnya and how that affects united states. i yield back. much for thatery very thoughtful and forceful opening statement. else have the desire for an opening statement? a statery to get department representative here with us today. we wanted a witness to tell us what they thought was going on. but they declined. they are too busy to send someone here, the united states congress, and speak with the american people. that may well be part of the problem in that this region has not gotten the

attention it deserves. there is a map of the region over there. central asia, as we are describing in the caucuses, represents a huge chunk of the planet. if that area comes under the domination of radical islam it makes it its job to attack the non-d states or other muslim people. usher us into an violence and mayhem. we need to work with those people who will work with us to see that that does not happen. havenot believe that we

paid attention here. we also have not been cooperating and working as hard as we can with those other countries. i would put my finger on russia where we could have well worked a lot closer with russia than as the ranking member pointed out we can do so without giving up our commitment to human rights and not complain if the russians are doing something wrong. they can accept some criticism as we can. that should not prevent us from joining forces against radical islam, which threatens to kill our children.

dominate the and area the size of central asia everybody is in trouble. a professor at the institute of world politics. he is a professor of research and publications at the academy.ni diplomatic he served as a by steen's of the social sciences and humanities. of social-dina sciences and humanities. he is a senior research associate at the euro the university. he served in various capacities in the united states state department, central intelligence agency, the voice of america and radio free europe and radio liberty and the carnegie endowment for peace.

on trick.e i took this upon myself to reach out to the russian embassy and russian counter parks. i wanted to see if they could they be represented -- they could recommend somebody who could come here and discuss this very important issue. it is important to both of us. we appreciate you being with us today. i am sorry that the russian embassy can send people but the state parliament cannot. he is a director of the nyc branch institute for democracy and cooperation. theas a member of presidential council of the between 1993ration and 2003 among his many

publications are the books "russia: chaos to order." here is the word with the russian medal of honor by presidential decree in 2009. we also have balked craig douglas with us. he's a professor of politics and political science at georgia .egions university he specializes in the study of ethnic group identity. his research is concentrated on the chechnya and and the curves. the reason things on paper -- things fall apart. binelly we have dr. sa

freizer. she currently serves as the istanbul-based director of the european program. bosnia, serbia, and cyprus. before joining the crisis group, she served as political officer in the osce in rauscher by sean. -- in odder by john. -- in azerbaijani. she is a fulbright scholar. we welcome our witnesses today. we would ask if you could keep your testimony to 5 minutes and

anything will be submitted for the record. we will come back and ask questions once there has been -- once everyone is testified. it is the intention of this to recess and we'll come back immediately after the last vote. i understand there's only going to be two or three votes so this should not be more than 20 minutes or half an hour. we will start with mr. goldman. me andk you for inviting thank you for holding a hearing on such an important topic. allow me to begin by associating myself with what you and other members of the committee have said about it, and horror that it was quiteoston impressive. to assess that i also it missiles with the chairman's

remarks about the department of state's representation. as late as the summer of 1999 i was the only one employed by the u.s. government working on the russians and soviet union. theas my hope that after soviet team and can impart a number of people who would be working in those areas and have expertise on it would grow and we would all benefit from it. it is probably inevitable that when something we know little about our people come in, that we jump rather quickly to oversimplification space on our knowledge for so -- based on our knowledge from elsewhere. we have had people use terminology which has been imported without much saw about what it means. without much thought about what it means.

understand what is going on leslie be in a position where the two tied it and lest we be manipulated in a way that is against american national interest. i would like to focus on three elements of this oversimplification. first tested to with islam, said it has to do it at the city's, and third hat to the experience of immigration among the people of the north caucuses, not only here but in western europe. different ways, in the eighth century dodd a stun and not until the -- and not until the 19th century. it is also very different in how tightly is held by people there and how much it motivates actions. many of the people who call themselves moslems in this part of the world know nothing about their fate.

are muslims, they do not know what that means. president cars i told me -- president karzai told me he prayed 3 times a day. unfortunately we use the term muslim without appreciation. >> what has happened has happened in the north caucuses and even more in central asia. 1991 -- suddenly there are people available to provide the content. prior to 1991 very few of these people could have pulled to the difference between one sort of karan and the other. the koran was published only twice in this of the times for people there. they did not know very much. i believe the opening of the seventh quarter may prove

ultimately more faithful -- alternately more faithful to the united states. i want to give you for statistics. were 150 mosques. today there are 8800. in 1991 there were 40 people who went on the haj. this past year there were 40,000. missionaries coming in from the middle east, from zero saudia went in 1991 to a high of about 2500 in the late nineties. it is somewhere between 1200 and 1500. fortune -- from four mid-1991 now to a figure of probably 1200, down from the numbers of two thousand +.

those numbers are even more dramatic in central asia. with respect to at the city. -- to ethnicity. people have experiences of what it means. most of the chechnyans were committed on chechnya an nationals. if you look at central asia you'll see that that is also true. the experience of immigration means that people are extremists because they are up against very difficult situations. when it has not been focused on is that many chechnya people think their quantity sent back to chechnya. people who fear they have no good options may do really bad things. three quick conclusions first.

i think we are learning that if we are quick to compete into -- could compete in physiological process police power will never solve the problem. we need to recognize that many of the problems we face now, both with regard to islam and northern provinces of central asia and with regard to ethnicity in central asia, a reflection of the actions of moscow both before 1991 and after that time, we have to cooperate with the russians in certain respects. we have to recognize they are part of the problem. need to understand that some of the things that are coming out in the coverage of the two terrorists shows that there are some optimistic reasons for looking at is long. more and more muslims are learning. when i started studying i cannot get a translation of the koran.

now there are discussions about what is canonical. whenow what is happened the bible was translated. it led to the reformation, renaissance, and maternity. it is entirely possible we will see the same kind of thing happen in the world of islam and we will see the same kind of troubles over the next three or four generations that people of western europe understood. thank you very much. >> that last point was very interesting. i had never thought of that before. dr. albert? >> thank you mr. chairman, members of the committee. i appreciate the opportunity to speak about islamic extremism in chechnya. directedy comments are towards islamic receive this and did not reflect the population of chechnya.

this pertains directly to the islamists area. insidere some elements chechnya and other regions. any connection to other global g hottest networks is up for debate. it possesses little strategic threat to the united states although it may pose a modest threat to united states's forces worldwide. the largest contemporary threat is the caucuses and rent in 2007. the chechnya republic -- the former wanted an independent chechnya the see wanted to create an islamic counterfeit. it extends beyond the sonics region. it appears we embarked on a .rand vision of territorial

although there are arguments about whether or not there are larger connections there appears to be evidence that the two are connected, in only in minor way. resulted to organizing and coordinating its efforts via the internet. difficultit is more to establish a clear connection between the two but there is a connection, however small it may be. there are some historical links with chechnya and al qaeda. there is no convincing evidence that there are any connections with al qaeda. this can be devastated by the caucuses website. it must also be mentioned that

the tactics and bombs used in the boston attacks included delayed multiple explosions all of the bombs were made slightly differently. the greatest threat in the caucus nansen's is not in nationalistic s -- is not an nationalistic movement. it is a larger network connected to the global jihad. there is more of a caucasian threat than chechnya and threats doing -- dealing mostly with at night -- dealing mostly with immigrants from dog stand. -- from dog stand. not obviouslyre preoccupied with united states. it would have to consider that if the chechnya's to become more involved with the larger global jihad its network whether they may consider attacking the u.s. homeland. one was still and exclude the the attack in the u.s. is still

highly unlikely. commences recently stated the larger comparison of work has nothing to do with the planning -- network has nothing to do the planning. he has emphasized that his organization has no conflict with united states. the nationalist groups inside chechnya direct most of their concerns toward combating the russian federation. especially with the 2014 of one dick's approaching -- 2014 olympics approaching it can be hypothesized to direct those sporting events. likely that u.s. military, security, and perhaps government forces that are combating to hottest elements will face -- combat jihadist elements will

face -- which can also safely predict threa whole or a chance of gaining ground for islamist forces some chechnya's will be found there as has been recently reported in the syrians of the war. unless more details become available about the boston bombers possibly training in the caucuses i think it is highly unlikely that there is any reasonable strategic threat planned against the united s.ates by the chechnyan >> thank you very much. we will have some questions for you later. domal for joining us today. hearingy appreciate from a point of view we would not hear otherwise. he may proceed. >> thank you.

it is a privilege for me to be here and to share some views concerning russia's perception concerning all of these events which happened in boston. first would like to emphasize these attacks have provoked feelings of solidarity with the american people and especially with the citizens of boston. the second time, after president -- whatder to find out happened and how we can eradicate the causes, which broke up with this tragedy.

in russia there is uneasiness during this previous tickets when russia was fighting against chechnyan terrorists, russia did not get enough support from our western partners. this is something which really is in public opinion and pollution was talking to the people. he talked a lot about these events in boston and the terrorism. russia was the victim of international terrorism. muslim radicals and her wrists are coming and supporting

chechnya and the terrorists. unfortunately our western totners were very reserved express their support. one of the reasons is that even now when you look at the coverage of the events in boston a lot of people are talking about deportations, about psychological problems considering aged and about injustice which the russian authorities executed against the people in to wreck the trying to justify some markets. i think that america now faced with this home grown terrorism, i think it is becoming more and -- no motive can

justify the terrorism and mass killings of innocent civilians independently. can be justified if some governments are acting in some places like these seven idec brothers. my bid is there this but it another important problem is that of course russia wanted to of back some leaders chechnya terrorists from the united states. one was in the united kingdom and still is there. he is the self proclaimed

minister of the chechnya republic. a minister of foreign affairs -- he got an assignment in boston when he left russia. neither american nor british are incorporated with russia is to discredit this terrorists. the problem is that i like to say that chechnya terrorists crossed the border of russia and now we have information in russia see it -- in russian secret services that chechnya soldiers are fighting in afghanistan. they are putting a toe and against america. mentioned they are members

of some groups in europe. .hey are now in syria american politicians and the american media is supportive to some groups of these rebels who are fighting against legitimate governments, at which meant we heard some fighters over there, if we win, we are going to fight in russia, returning back to russia. some of what i said in russia, the general mood is that we are to understand that we russians have a common interest with the united states and we had disagreements.

not everyone in russia believes the american secret services consist of knights on white horses. our imperfections should not prevent us from realizing we're facing a common enemy. >> thank you very much for that testimony. we recognize the frustration of someone who sees acts of terrorism being committed against his own people. we will go into that in the question and answer session. we are very pleased to have the chairman of the full committee. would you like to make a statement? >> i appreciate that opportunity, i will defer and allow the witnesses each to

testify. and then i might ask a question. >> we will put you up front. >> thank you very much, mr. chairman for the opportunity to present today. i want to commend the subcommittee for focusing their attention during such a critical time. a few words about crisis group, an independent nonpartisan group that provides analysis, policy advice, and recommendations to organizations on the prevention and resolution of deadly conflicts. the ambassador is our current chairman and the former chief prosecutor and the former u.n. high commissioner for human

rights is our current president. crisis group began in 2012 and has written two background reports that were published in october. the challenges of integration, and conflict. the challenges of integration, islam, the insurgency, and counterinsurgency. i would ask that these reports speak incorporated into the record. the third report, which will come out early this summer, which will look at the institutional causes of conflict. that will have a series of recommendations on how to deal with the violence. i should say that our staff travels frequently to the north caucasus talking to -- i understand that these hearings take place in the aftermath of

the boston bombings. there are two primary causes for conflicts. ethnic conflict and the islamic insurgency. let me talk about the ethnic conflict. the failure of their projects and their expanded use of armed force brought indiscriminant response during wars in chechnya. since 2003, the situation in chechnya has largely stabilized. handing over most economic and political power to local authorities. having said that, several conflicts continue to exist in the region. sometimes these lead to violence. very often, they are about land

and control of power, the local power, and economic resources. we also see some conflicts between some of the republics. you still see tensions at the local level. the other main source of conflict, which is the main issue of today, is the insurgency. what we should say is that the insurgency feeds off the ethnic conflicts. a lot of the young people choose to join the insurgency. the main organization that is mobilizing the insurgency -- it was proclaimed in 2007. it is recognized as a terrorist organization by russia and the united states and by many others.

it tracks youth in all different types of ethnicities. it attacks federal forces and local police and also civil servants and religious leaders. it has unified force, a unified cause, a very strong structure with leadership. it is predominantly local, locally funded and it has a local aspiration. rarely a day goes by without an attack in russia. 750 people were killed in 2011 and almost the same number killed in 2012. so far this year, 67 people were killed. we remember the bombing at the airport in moscow in january 2011 that killed 37. the vast majority of attacks are against security services and traditional clergy. in february of 2012, the head

said he would no longer be targeting civilians. the government's main response has been a very tough focus on eradicating the insurgency with the massive security presence. for example, a few days ago, between the 11th and 21st of april, there was a major security operation. resulted in the displacement of 5000 people. the russian government has also began to open it some room and started applying longer-term comprehensive approach to counter terrorism. i believe it is this approach that should be supported. the north caucasus integration into the rest of russia it is essential for healthy ethnic relations in the country. the spread of violence indicates

that more comprehensive approaches are needed. thank you very much. >> thank you. we appreciate all of our witnesses today. i am going to recognize the chairman of the full committee for a statement or a question, whichever he chooses. >> thank you, mr. chairman. one of the observations, in my conversations with members from southern russia, they shared with me the way in which the chechen al qaeda linked organization was going house to house in their state which neighbors chechnya.

giving young men an option of either joining the movement or killing them. as they related to me, this was much more than a movement for the chechnya independence. it was much more ambitious. you will see chechens fighting in afghanistan, you will see them carrying out assassinations in pakistan, all over central asia. in terms of the violence, the al qaeda-linked groups have developed a methodology of suicide bombings that they have carried to quite an extent. you've talked about the attack on the school where you have

over 500 casualties, most of them children. this is fairly a regular occurrence from southern russia. even in moscow, when these fighters get into the city, it is pretty horrific what they do in the subways or in government buildings. the question going forward is with this commitment to -- given that encompasses such a large geographic area, the attempt to convert moderate muslims is a major challenge. i talked to a village leader and he told me about the situation in his village where 12 young men were receiving instruction al12 were decapitated.

he said this is not a local custom. this is the importation or the change of a culture. gradually, we are changing our culture to this al qaeda psychology. it is a gulf state culture in terms of capitation, but with the kind of mass killings we are doing, we are changing culture. i was going to ask you about that because i agle within the societies. they felt they were losing the struggle. your insights? >> thank you for raising this question. i would like to say the situation is now much worse.

the problem is that it is a multi-ethnic. there are strained relations between different ethnic groups. it is more prone -- it is coming from saudi arabia and the money is coming, the people are coming from there. the power is very weak. this is the problem which you can understand. you have a strong man in chechnya and no terrorist acts. every day practically, this is the problem of security and democracy.

>> i think it might be a little bit more complicated than that. because we are looking at terrorist states -- attacks in moscow, as well. with all the security in moscow, they are not able to protect the subways. >> what we are seeing is an effort to recruit people who are identifying themselves as muslims. people who really know about islam. the saudi missionaries have been most successful in areas where people do not know very much about islam. this is a huge problem because if you see people acquire more

islamic -- as people learn more about their religion, they will become more fundamentalist. as people learn more about our religion they become protected against efforts to change their direction. in the case of the people of the north caucuses and central asia and the muslim population in the russian federation, what we have people who do not have that kind of training and are more susceptible for recruitment. it is very important to understand that. there is a process of immunization. i know many muslims -- those who know a great deal about islam are able to say absolutely no to the missionaries coming from saudi arabia. the people who know much less about islam are far more likely

to be recruited because they're waiting for someone to tell them what it means. >> thank you, mr. goble. we now recognize mr. brad sherman, the ranking member on the terrorism subcommittee for his opening statement. >> thank you, mr. chairman. those in have seen me on this committee have seen me use my question time to pontificate. i am filled with so many questions. i'll invite the panel to respond later. one relates to the history of the area where we are told stalin deported the entire chechnyan population. how many people were deported? how many of returned? who in the heck was living in chechnya in the meantime? how're they persuaded to leave?

we see a over 200-year aia between the family and that branch of islam -- i think it may go beyond this hearing, but this is both an alliance and very dangerous to the saudi royal family since most of those who want to kill the leaders of saudi arabia are motivated by islam which is almost indistinguishable to the islam that is being propagated by money that comes from the gulf. i am going to be asking what are the training facilities in

chechnya. we all knew that al qaeda was operating in afghanistan, taking in people from all over the world. is there anything on a smaller scale in chechnya? we saw these brothers be effective in the bombing and incredibly amateurish after the bombing. it would be interesting to see if they got any training beyond wh thet for the bombing. we will not know that in these hearings, but perhaps we will know if there is a mini-out al qaeda for extremist islam in the region. i think i will save the rest of my questions for question time.

>> thank you very much. we will now proceed to our questions and dialogue. let me begin by saying that years ago, i think in 2004, the terrorists took over a school in russia. is that city part of chechnya? or part of russia? it is a russian school. the terrorists murdered in the end -- 180 children lost their lives. i remember calling the white

house personally and i talked directly with condoleezza rice and i told her, now is the time that we can establish a close ruia.ositive relationship with recruit them to work with us in areas of mutual interest that we could not do before. now is the time to stand with these folks. send president bush over there to stand next to putin and say americans stand shoulder to shoulder with the people of russia and the government of russia in opposing and feeding those who would murder children in order to obtain their political edge. as we have seen in boston, the young man who put the bomb down did so by an eight-year-old boy. the answer was evident that no,

the president did not go there. how many people here know that the russians have built a monument in memory of the people who were killed in 9/11? right across from where the world trade center was, there is a beautiful monument that was built by the russian people and the russian governnt expressing solidarity of seeing ordinary people losing their lives to a terrorist attack. today, i would hope that what happened in boston and the fact that it related directly back to russia and chechnya, there is a line you could draw that i hope

will motivate us to work with russia in order to defeat those who would murder children in order to attain their goals. the chechnya independence movement was originally secular nationalists. what i am talking about is, i do not understand how radical islam talking about god, allah, as they say, that they seem to be the ones to justify acts of murdering innocent people, who are noncombatants. not targeting the army of someone, but targeting noncombatants -- that is being done to terrorized into submitting to some of their radical religious thought. in the beginning, it was secular nationalists. now it appears that radical

nationalists. islamist ideology has pretty much dominated that independence movement. these are people who now make a common jihad against christians and jews and hindus around the world. where did that come from? how did that happen? i am asking this of the panel. was this financing of the extremism, and financing of these mosques, did that have something to do with this? what kind of threats in the future? they did not permit the saudis to build their mosques in uzbakistan. they were criticized as a

violation of their human rights. we know the saudi purpose was to develop a brand of islam that will target and killed children. how did it become as -- is there a way to counter that? are we right to condemn them for not allowing them to build their mosques? >> as someone who was quite involved, who prevented the killing of boris yeltsin, prevented the killing -- extensions of killings at that time, i can testify that the national chechen movement was comptely secularthocess by whica change is not that the entire movement changed, but the part that got attention changed. it was a product of three different factors. the first was that the national movement is articulated -- he believed as a nation, they had a right to independence.

that was his personal belief. when the chechans did not get any support for their position in the west, at a be damaging for support elsewhere. disappointed in are not having supported them, they turn to look to the only people prepared to said they were supporting them. i mentioned some numbers about the people -- this is a good indication of how intense -- over the last 22 years, chechens have formed a 40% coming from the russian federation even though they form less than 1% of the russian federation you have real money coming in to build various kinds of things. i would argue there is still a

chechen national movement that is committed to a secular and free chechnya. unfortunately, it gets very little attention in chechnya causit has been so unsuccessful. when people are unsuccessful, and when people they hope to be their allies do not turn out to be, it is not surprising that they turn to other people. >> i cannot imagine if a number of western countries where people would be so committed to the national independence and they were so frustrated that they were not getting outside support, they would go to ally themselves with those who help them murder large numbers of

children. this is not an excuse, them not getting support from the united states or from people who believe in democracy, it is no excuse to help people who are willing to murder targets. >> i was not -- i am just trying to provide an explanation, because it is absolutely true. what was tragic is that those people who recognized what was going on were almost entirely ignored. there was a lot that could have been done and should have been done and was not done. i do not believe that we bear responsibility, either then or now, for what happened. >> given your familiarity with the russian government, i have a question.

the fbi investigating the boston bombing received information from russia. they sought additional information after their investigation. can you speak or shed some light on the culture that exists with law-enforcement and with security officials in both countries? could you comment on how it could be improved? >> my opinion is that -- this is my guess. cnn wanted me to comment about the contact between security forces, they said they are cooperating and we are not going to make any comments on this. my personal guess is that this is the problem of distrust

between our countries and our security forces. i am afraid that russian security law enforcement agencies asked the fbi to look at these guys, in this country and in the west, the idea that russian authorities are oppressing them. this is some russian plot. this is not a terrorist, it is something else. that is why i am afraid they did not pay enough attention to the warnings. as a result, as i said in my preliminary statement, on law enforcement authorities, and in political circles, and i know

them very well, since 2001, there is a feeling of betrayal. putin offered every opportunity and strongly cooperated in fiting ainst the taliban and al qaeda. in response, i remember the spirit in russia at the time. everybody was thinking, at least we are finishing and putting back this cold war, the distrust. >> one of the things we want to come of this is a better

opportunity to have security advisers and law enforcement work more closely, despite our differences, as difficult as they can be, because in both countries, lives could be lost. particularly with groups like the caucasus emirates. i have a quick question for the dr. freizer. we're getting reports that there are posters coming up in the north caucasus area. actual support or support for the terrorist that conducted the boston marathon bombing, i do not know what information you might have in those reports, but this is unusual that there is so much attention focused on the u.s., negative attention. could you comment on what you might think in your opinion -- is there a different viewpoint now toward the united states? >> in our reporting so far, we have not really looked at the russian-united states relationship as it relates to the north caucasus.

so i can only answer the question partially. what i can say is that any statement last week, what they said is that they are not at war with the united states. it is not the ambition of the north caucasus insurgency to extend its war to the united states or beyond the region of the caucasus, including central asia. the posters you're seeing today are very troubling. to see that there are people in this region who are taking pleasure of what happened in boston. some of this might just be local pride and terms of family links but of course is highly unfortunate and i don't to get

reflects on the feelings of the general population in the region. >> thank you. with that, i turn it back, mr. chairman. >> the chairman of the subcommittee on terrorism and nonproliferation. >> thank you for being here. i am a little irritated that the state department is not here. this is an important topic. sure, they don't have all the information yet but they should at least show up. it's ironic the russian government help us get a witness here to help us from that perspective. mr. goble, you may be the last person in the state department i worked on this issue. maybe that's why you're the only

one here today. but i doave oncerns. i think we have learned that radical islamic jihadist did not come from a certain one place area in the world. they come from all over the world. and some are homegrown. chechnya is one of those areas that we need to focus on. we need to work with the russian government on what is taking place there because what takes place there obviously has been taking place here as well with the influence and redline from dagestan to the united states as far as what criminal activity is taking place in our own country. if dagestan is a place where it is known that as a haven for jihadist philosophy, why we would not be concerned about

someone in the united states going to that area for six months. what was he doing for six months? who would this person, the older brother, who could he have been meeting with to get an influence on al qaeda or from al qaeda jihadist movements? >> i just want to suggest that one of the insights americans have brought to the appearance of terrorism is that it is often bred in failed states where there are no political institutions to run things. a week ago, the new acting president of dagestan, described his republic as a failed state where political and legal institutions did not work and where he cannot control the situation. failed states that cannot

control their population or operate as a state normally does, open areas exploited by radicals of various kinds. there are places in dagestan were officials have not been. so the possibility of someone going there for six months and not being exposed to radicals in one way or another strikes me as slim to none. >> it is not the place you would go fishing. >> among other things. that's right. it is also a place where you would expect someone that had the troubled biography this gentleman did, but an opinion on object of interest.

i am more concerned about the six month and dagestan than the fact that the man is an ethnic chechen. >> let me reclaim my time. would you think that we should be concerned about that? especially if the russian government says -- they tell us two times this is somebody we should be concerned about. and all the sudden he comes back to the united states, maybe a customs official knew it, maybe he did not, but in the area of intelligence, that should raise a red flag. this is not something that should slip under the rug. >> it definitely poses a concern if we did not communicate properly who was visiting the area. i want to address the original point who could this person have been meeting with in dagestan. this is particularly an

organization that could be a subset -- >> how large of that organization? >> maybe less than 1000 individuals, i don't have much evidence of that. they are actively recruiting throughout the area as well. it could be larger because it is attached to the caucasus emirates as well as the confederation of alliances. >> is the influence of the radical jihadist movement in dagestan, is it on the increase or is it decreasing? is it something we should be concerned about as well? >> it is on the increase in dagestan is something we should be concerned about. >> i am out of time. i yield back.

>> i don't believe any americans are concerned if a country decides to have leadership that is religious. if there is a religion that convinces people that part of their faith is to murder other people's children. for their independence and right to vote. mr. sherman. >> thank you. does anyone have little quick history lesson for us as to the chechen deportation? how many people were kicked out, etc.

>> the entire population in 1944 was deported by stalin, i believe 800,000. a quarter died in transit. they were allowed to return. russia resettled some people from the russia mainland into the homes inside chechnya at that time. khrushchev eventually allowed the chechens to come back. many stayed where they were, many came back. there were issues in ethnic tensions within chechnya in people who resettled in their homes. this is known as a great tragedy to the ethnic identity of chechens at this event. it is something very strong enough historical memory. >> in 1944, there were russians living in these homes in an area

that had supported 800,000 people. today in chechnya, how many of those russians are still there? >> it's a good question. after the wars, there was huge propaganda campaign that the russians are killing all the chechens. they terrorized all of them and kicked them out. >> there were tens or hundreds of thousands of russians? >> 300,000 russians lived in chechnya. >> i want to call for better relations with united states and russia. we granted refugee status to this family. we see the outcome. who can answer what level --

what are the training bases for extremist islam in that area? is there a particular site? >> the short answer is that they were training over there in chechnya and other places because the central government was very weak. they are limited because practicality is under the control. sufi islam is their traditional, which means they are limiting. central government is trying to strengthen local authorities and putting these security guys. >> one thing -- the russian

government told us to watch tamerlan. he spent 6 months in the russian federation. how robust is the russian intelligence in the town where the parents lived? would be expected russians to keep track of an individual during six months? or is this an area where the writ of the government -- >> two months ago, the president of dagestan proved it is a failed state. bribery is very high. and ethnic lines are too many. there are too many ethnic from village to village

different ethnic groups and sling which is are living. >> there are within dagestan 30 different mutually non- intelligible language groups. >> not the caucasus. >> just in dagestan, there are 30 different nations speaking. most are tri or quadrilingual. in many areas, it is very difficult for someone from the center to penetrate the plane was -- language communities so a lot goes on that frankly no one knows. >> thank you. you have time for a one minute statement. and we will be adjourning this hearing. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i've been paying attention to the testimony in my office and trying to multitask, but i felt

compelled to come. the issue is, listening to a lot, we talk about the wide-open territory and terrain that is not manageable or minded me somewhat of what had taken place in columbia at a time when we tried to bring some of those individuals back into society. whether or not there was something that was being done. so that those who are being taken toward terrorist and terrorist actions to bring them back into society so that they can assimilate into culture. >> the single best predictor when you get terrorism is the unemployment rates among 18- year-old males around the world. that trumps everything.

in parts of the north caucasus, unemployment rates overall range from 50% to 70%. among young people, they are 100% in many cases in terms of the officially recognized economy. what is the best that can be done, and the russian government is doing some of this, is trying to build factories to give people jobs. people who are employed, who are integrated and society in that way, are far less likely to listen to a missionary for al qaeda. >> i'm sorry, we have three minutes left. 30 seconds. >> thank you. i just want to say that the mention of these committees and columbia, and russia, they have started setting up similar committees for former fighters. this is something that i would say would be an area where the u.s. government and russia would be able to share experiences. >> ok. thank you very much. we appreciate all of the

witnesses. let us just note at the end, during the cold war, i was the soviet union's worst enemy, nemesis, because i believe that free people need to determine who their number one enemies are and work to try to defeat them, and that does not mean that the people you work with are perfect, etc. and we did bring down the soviet union. today, radical islam and china appear to be the main advert site areas of the free world. i hope we all work together against a religion that will motivate people to murder children and other threats. to us and to civilization. this hearing is adjourned. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2013] [captioning performed by national captioning institute]

>> a reported 3 million questions were submitted to russian president vladimir putin by text, e-mail, telephone and life video during his annual call-in program thursday. the russian president focused mostly on the economy, but responded to a variety of questions and concerns during the 4.5 hour program. here is the first hour.

>> good afternoon. live on the air is our direct line with vladimir putin. it has been a year since resident who 10 took his office .s head of the state how the country has been, what has been done is what we're going going to be talking about today. a number of other helpers will work here in the studio.

you can also watch us on channel 24 and listen to it on the radio. presidentn the air is vladimir putin. [applause] >> our call center is receiving phone calls at this toll-free number.

you can also ask a question i 4040 -- we're just starting, but we already have a n all-time record. we have already received hundreds of thousands of texts. in other words, we have close to 2 million questions. this is just the beginning. the bulk of the work lord -- work load is just begin. , as imagine every minute many as 3075 individuals are trying to get through to us here at the call center. an unprecedented amount of interest.

there are a great number of subjects that are of interest to our citizens. here in the studio today our people, some of whom are well- known across russia, some are so-called authorized individuals. others may not be that well known to others, but they are what you call daily heroes. these are people whom we have covered in our reporting. people whodoctors, are real, daily heroes and who live in russia. , we, based on our tradition will visit several communities, in particular the town of -- in the maritime area. as we prepared for this program invitede also

individuals to our mobile sites who are targeted groups of sword so that we can discuss with them the most relevant, most pressing matters from corruption to issues in the housing and utility sector to education, public health, and science. call us, text us, leave us questions at our website. we will get going. before we do, i would like to read everybody who is here in these studios and all our citizens who are showing interest in today's meeting of hours. which is not the first one. it is a well-known format by now. it is very useful. there are no two ways about it. such direct interactions with our citizens give us a very

clear cross-section of what is of interest to our society at any point in time. there is a direct exchange of opinion, direct information. we receive feedback. this is extremely important and highly useful. you became president of the russian federation, and you signed decrees. of theescribes the goals country is excited to achieve. to what extent are you satisfied with the schedule of these to decrees, and what percentage of the goals set in the first year of your presidency has been implemented by your subordinates? >> i would not talk about percentages, which would be quite complicated, but i can state right away that the goal that we set forth immediately

after i took office as president -- they undoubtedly are extremely difficult for compliance. and i did this intentionally. i intentionally, and i admitted i set the bar somewhat high for the result that is to be achieved by the executive branch, not just in the -- of these country, but in the region of the russian federation. has has been done, what not been done, and whether or not i am satisfied. i believe that the work is going on in a satisfactory way. there are setbacks and failures, which i will also mention. i am sure there will be many questions about problems, which does mean that there are some setbacks. the first place i would like to mention, the system has increased our salaries. we have aimed -- we had a

meeting, which included not only members of the government, but it isany experts and taken note that the wages are going faster than labor productivity. thing toot the best have. from the perspective of social, we are moving in the right direction. the wages and salaries have not only grown due to the increases in the cash allowances for militaries in the serviceman, but the economy in general. this is number one. we have twice adjusted pensions for inflation. in april, and for the first time it has exceeded the 10,000 ruble mark. we have made what is a very important decision in terms of supporting the democratic.

in addition to the motherhood capital, we have also introduced payment for delivering a third baby in a family and a demographically challenged reason -- region. this payment is at the level of a child a subsistence level, which varies across the regions. on the average in this country, it is approximately 7000 rubles. for families that have children, this is tangible support. on the whole, the democratics have been improving. recordnow registering indicators as far as birthrate. the situation as far as declining death rate has deteriorated somewhat. this is something many to be looked into. but the demographic situation is developing in a positive way. we have increased payments to our and tertiary school

students as we agreed. in the social sphere -- one of the important areas is it has improve the citizens of our men. organizations have taken note of that ratings, which i do not have such trust for. on the whole, it has been noted that there has been progress in terms of improving the conditions for doing business, andh includes incorporation access to infrastructure. although, there are so very many problems. power.to the electric on the whole -- of course, there is a large-scale program to put modern weapons. once again, i think it would be wrong to talk and percentage terms, but the situation is satisfactory.

goif you let it, let's paragraph by paragraph. we have here a medical professional. let's hear her question. before she speaks, i like to say who she is. whois a medical worker walked for three kilometers in the middle of a snowstorm because the ambulance got stuck. entiresult, she saved an family from death. >> mr. president, you have said that the wages have been increased, but as a medical professional, i have not felt that impact at all. especially for ambulance employees. medicals a mid-level professional. we are responsible for human life. we received 3.5 thousand rubles in terms of federal monthly payments.

the nurses who work with doctors receive 5000. so why do we receive less than nurses? that is the question. >> on the whole, the wages are increasing. as far as medical personnel, .alary is a notch higher you mentioned a problem which apparently exists. i will try for my sake and your sake to speak out loud about it to discuss it here is my perspective. he will remember that i was -- i once appointed additional payments. --,004 gp's, for plus 5004 medical personnel, 3000 four mid-level personnel,

and 3004 others. others.000 for the amount of funding is roughly 40 billion rubles. all of them have been transferred into the system of mandatory medical insurance and have been delivered to the regions of the russian federation. i believe that the problem here has to do not with money but management. it is a managerial problem. i am often criticized for the fact that i micromanage. we call it manual mode. i have been accused of overdoing it. i believe that in this particular situation, what has happened is a management said that. in fact, there has been an increase in payments to the mandatory manager insurance, 61%, and the money has been sent

from the federal budget to the health insurance system to the regions. once again, 40 billion rubles. the region should have paid these monies to medical personnel because the money was earmarked. for thesensferred specific purposes. why it didn't happen, we have to figure out. i believe it was a mistake made by the government and by the appropriate ministry. the public health ministry should have micromanage it. thater or not the monies have been allocated to the region are in fact reaching employees like yourself. apparently, this was not done. number two, when the regions did receive this money, and i did tell my colleagues in the government, i told them that they have many goals, many problems, and it is not a given that they will automatically deliver the money to medical employees.

they might just i diverted to other goals. that, too, needs to be looked at. how the money was spent. if it was spent on other things a man has to be returned and paid to you personally or your colleagues. that is grounds to believe all of the monies to medical employees will be received by medical personnel. thank you. this runs -- this was justified potentially because we have a huge number of questions having to do with salaries. whys not quite clear to me the authorities let the situation go. the monies have come from the government, but they're not being paid. alwaysy is not transferred from the federal budget, but in this situation, it clearly was transferred.

the government is risking not being compliant. illusions were people have to survive on 5000 rubles a month. >> i could not agree more. especially if they are sitting in accounts. that is one thing. but if the monies have been spent on something else, that is a violation. what was that? it kind of look like a meeting of despair, if you will, into the economic crisis, and also a meeting of hope because the meeting did look for growth points or hope point, if you will. four ways to find a solution. so what was it, from your perspective?